The Dead Faith
by Rose202
Summary: Rin lost all hopes of being accepted long ago. The rebellious daughter of a prominent businessman, when Rin gets in trouble with the police, her parents send her to Ouran. Will Rin get more than she bargained for? Or will she find her other half? KyoyaxOC  Angst, eventual romance, hurt-comfort, rated K
1. Unordinarily Ordinary

**Hello dear readers, Rose202 here! After the overly long wait, here is the prequel to my other story, 'Why Does it Hurt?'. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, I've been insanely busy. But here it is I'm still not done writing it, but I have a good seven chapters or so written with more coming. The first chapter is more of a introductory chapter, and it gives most of Rin's backstory and how she ended up at Ouran. Chapter two will actually have her at the school with the host club, so if you don't like intro chapters then please just stick with me : ) I've based this story on one of my favourite poems by Fannie Heaslip Leah, consequently called The Dead Faith. Also I decided to challenge myself and write it in first person, from Rin's POV. Anyhoo, I shall stop rambling now so that you can actually start reading. Enjoy : ) **

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><p><em>She made a little shadow-hidden grave, <em>

_The day Faith died;_

_Therein she laid it, heard the clod's sick fall,_

_And smiled aside -_

_"If less I ask," tear-blind, she mocked, "I may _

_Be less denied." _

_She set a rose to blossom in her hair,_

_The day Faith died -_

_"Now glad," she said, "and free at last, I go,_

_And life is wide."_

_But through long nights she stared into the dark, _

_And knew she lied._

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><p>I was never an ordinary girl. I didn't fawn over hot guys, I didn't enjoy doing make-up and hair, and I abhorred shopping. I didn't listen to the popular music, I only watched action films (romance movies made me feel sick) and I hated sitting still, so I didn't watch much T.V. When I was little and people bought me dolls for my birthdays, I would thank them and, when they left, stuff the disgraceful things away into a dark corner for later use. By 'later use', I mean that once I'd forgotten who had given the doll to me, and therefor wouldn't feel guilty about its destruction, I would cut its head off and use it to play baseball with the neighbourhood kids. It was one of our favourite games – Smash the Doll. I never liked the normal things; while other girls spent hours obsessing over appearances and their latest crush, I would go for long runs around the lake and practice my Judo and Karate till my mother would make me stop.<p>

I was nothing like either of my parents; they were fair with light hair, whereas my hair and eyes were black. They were also more sociable – where they were nice, if not overly warm, I was cold and much more calculating when it came to being friendly.

I loved to spar and run – those were my favourite things to do. I was very fast; when I had first moved to the town I grew up in, I always used to race the neighbourhood kids. It wasn't long before they all learned that turning me down when I asked was better than loosing spectacularly, as they were sure to do if they accepted. So I ran alone. Sometimes I would let someone else win, but I loved the feeling of speed so much that those times were few and far between. I was very good at Karate, and just okay at Judo. I'd been taking them both since I was four, but my instructor said that I had a talent for Karate especially. When I was eight my instructor and my parents tried to get me to compete in Japan's National Karate Competition for Children, but I didn't feel like going up against Japanese children who'd been taking Karate since before they could walk.

When I got a bit older, around age nine, I began to sense a withdrawal from the neighbourhood kids. My father said that I intimidated the other children with my speed and height – I was very tall– but I remained convinced that the reason that they suddenly didn't want to be around me simply because I was different. I was fast and they weren't, I was tall and they weren't, they had friends and I didn't. They were able to make friends and share their feelings, while I could do neither. I was convinced that they drew away because of the lines between us – lines that had always existed, but that had never gotten in the way before.

The thought refused to leave me, and despite my family's half-hearted efforts, it grew and twisted in my mind like a poisonous weed in a garden full of flowers. Eventually, the weed began to crush the flowers; I fell away from my acquaintances completely, and I severed all contact with them when we moved away. The second time we moved, we stayed in Japan. We just relocated to a different city - my father had inherited my grandfather's big medical company when he died, so we all dragged ourselves halfway across the country to go with him. I was twelve then.

I wasn't upset about moving – on the contrary, I was ecstatic. I was glad to move – at the old place, people knew me. They had their misconceptions, and they didn't bother to ask for anything more. To them I was just the fast girl who dressed like a boy, played with the boys and had suddenly been diagnosed with depression at age nine. They had no idea that the diagnosis was self-proclaimed, but that bothered me little. I didn't care what they thought.

When we moved, I decided to come out of my shell and give the people in our new city some additional misconceptions about me to worry about. My idea was that if they weren't going to bother looking for the real me, then I might as well encourage them.

The first thing I did when we arrived was find a store in the mall – oh, yuck, shopping – that sold leather clothes. Leather pants, leather jackets, leather, leather, and leather. All black leather. I bought four complete outfits, all comprising of a black tee shirt, black leather gloves (Two pairs were knuckle-length), black leather pants, and black boots.

The next thing I did was go to the hairdressers. My hair was very long and naturally jet black, even though I wasn't Japanese – I was western by blood, even though I spoke, ate and breathed Japan. The midnight locks of hair hung in a straight curtain to just past my elbows, just like they do today. I asked the hairdresser to get me the brightest, most crimson blood red she could find and put thick streaks of it in my hair.

When she was done, I looked at myself in the mirror. Black leather, black and red hair, black, angry eyes and a twelve-year-old face to top it off. The look was right, but _I_ was still wrong. I hoped that maybe the new me would be different enough to convince the outside world that I really didn't care if they accepted me or not.

When I got home, my parents… well, you can imagine what they did. They screamed, they yelled, they demanded to know what I had been thinking. I didn't know, but I did know as sure as anything that I loved what I'd done to my look, and I said so. They grounded me, but I didn't mind. It was hard not running, but soon enough school would start, and then they couldn't keep me inside.

It was around then that they decided on the 'H' word. Homeschooling. Ugh! It was torture, specifically designed to keep me at home on a leash where I couldn't get into any trouble. I overheard my parents one night, talking about my schooling and my dad's business. At first I didn't understand how they were related, but as I listened it started to make sense.

"I don't think I can handle having Rin at home any longer," my mother said. "Honestly, I know you're worried about having her in normal school, but it's driving me crazy shut up here with only her and the staff for company."

"I know," my dad replied. "But we haven't got a choice. I am a member of the International Medical Board of Japan. If anyone of note knew that my daughter is only thirteen and depressed, and that she only wears black leather and that we're hiding her, I could lose my job."

"I still don't understand how Rin has anything to do with your job." My mother's voice was irritated now. "Sure, she has problems. But it's not the world's business."

"It is here," he said gently. "Ami, I know this has been hard for you. I know you've had trouble adjusting. But things are different in Ouran, and I promise you, if anyone knew about Rin and word got around, things could get bad for us." Ouran was the name of the city we'd moved to.

My mother sighed.

"Alright," she said softly. "But if she gets any worse, I swear I'm not going to watch her. She can go to a private school. Maybe that would straighten her out."

My father was silent, but I could imagine his familiar, cold smile that showed too many teeth.

"Alright. Maybe private school."

I crept back to my room and sat on my bed in shock. They were keeping me locked up and I hadn't even realised it! I mean, sure they picked a house in the middle of nowhere with no other kids around, and they made me do my running in the deserted parts of town, but I'd never guessed they were hiding me.

A slow grin spread over my face as I realised the implications of my current situation. And there it is again; the normal thing. You see, the reaction I had to my new information was not that of a normal thirteen-year-old girl. I didn't cry or freak out or slip deeper into depression. No, I revelled in it. I realised, as no normal child would have, that the circumstance I found myself in gave me a certain degree of power over my parents and their decisions.

Over the next few weeks after I'd overheard them talking I could tell I was scaring my parents, especially my mother. I would be puttering around doing something, and I'd catch her staring at me. When she saw me she'd look down and hurry away. I thought I must have been smiling a lot, because the housekeeper kept asking me what I was so happy about, my reaction to which was that I yelled till she stopped pestering me.

My problems got worse over the next two years. Part of me just wanted to be bad and have fun, but mostly I was hoping that my parents might actually become concerned. The hope was short-lived.

I started going out to parties I'd see advertised in the paper. I wasn't legally allowed in, but I could pass for nineteen and anyway, the tattooed guy at the front never asked for ID. The parties were raunchy, and the people at them smoked a lot. They probably did other things to, but I stayed away from the really bad crowds.

Things went on that way for a while, and it was just before my sixteenth birthday that I made my first big mistake. It wasn't really intentional; it just seemed like the Bad Girl scheme wasn't working on my parents, so I thought I'd hammer it up a bit and get into a fight.

I'd been in a few before, most involving drunks at bars, but all of them had been in self-defence and had never lasted for longer than a few punches. This time, I wanted to initiate something bigger that nobody would try to break up.

Conflict wasn't difficult to find for me, probably due to my aggressive and confrontational nature. Plus the fact that I looked tough, which was practically a written challenge for any hot-headed guy.

It was late at night, around midnight. I was at one of the biggest parties in the town, one of the parties that no one with any sort of good reputation would ever show his face at.

I was lounging in a dark booth, alone as always, when the far door opened. No one else noticed who walked in, but I did. I was here to observe – it was my second favourite hobby next to running.

I leaned forward and cupped my neck in my hand, squinting to see through the smoke-filled air. The loud rap music they had playing was deafening, so I shifted and got to my feet smoothly, my intentions of picking a fight already clear to anyone observant enough to note my body language.

Looking back on it, I guess I must have looked pretty intimidating. I was very tall by that point, around 5'10", and I was still in my tight-fitting leather number with a cute pair of black, lace-up snakeskin gloves that ended at the knuckles to top it off.

I stalked through the swaying mass of people on the dance floor and made my way slowly over to the man that had entered.

He was tall and muscular, even for a man, and appeared to be around thirty. His arms were huge and brawny with muscle, like a sailor, and his light brown hair was cropped short. His eyes were dark – maybe brown, I couldn't tell – and they looked mean. I sized him up, calculating. I'd have to move fast to avoid a direct hit – there really was a lot of muscle on those arms – but I wasn't worried.

I'm not sure why I chose that particular man to pick a fight with. I knew I could handle him – running had made me very fit, and I had taken karate and judo all my life – it was more like there was something about him that made me want to punch him. I'd never lost a fight, and I was confident who the winner would be, even though it went against what you'd expect. The fifteen-year-old girl winning a fight against a man in his thirties who looked as mean and tough as a cougar.

I smiled as I drew nearer.

I was never one for wasting words, so when I came to a stop in front of him, I didn't bother speaking. I just let my fist speak for me.

My first punch caught him square on the nose, and I heard a satisfying crunch and felt something snap before he went down.

To give him some credit, he wasn't slow on the draw, or squeamish about fighting a girl. Hardly had he hit the floor when he was scrambling to his feet, fists clenched and eyes wild. When he saw me – black leather, red hair, angry black eyes and all – he hesitated for a heartbeat.

That was all I needed to split his lip open when my knuckles connected with his teeth.

In the fight that ensued, he swore enough to give the entire scene an R+ rating. I just laughed at him.

I don't know what I was thinking – looking back, it was really stupid – but at the time I enjoyed it. It had been years since I'd been properly challenged physically; it was nice to have someone twice my age and a head taller than me trying to beat me up. It was exhilarating.

I blocked, dodged, missed a block and tasted blood.

_At least I'll have something to show my father when I get back. _

The fight went on that way for a while, but eventually I got tired of his cussing. A girl can only be called so many dirty names before she snaps.

As he spat a particular nasty expletive at me, I drew back. Misperceiving my slight and temporary withdrawal as hesitation, he smiled – one tooth missing and three crooked – and lunged for me. His momentum carried his jaw right into my oncoming foot. The heel of my leather boot struck him straight on, and I heard gasps from an audience that I hadn't realised we had when something in his face cracked with a sharp snap.

He was hurtled backward to the floor and came to a sprawling stop. That time, he didn't get up.

I glared down at him, not comprehending that the fight was over. My heart was still pumping blood through my veins at the fastest possible rate, and my breathing came and went in short gasps. As I thought of it I tried to slow my breathing.

I transferred my basilisk glare from the man on the floor to the people surrounding us. They were muttering amongst themselves and casting me nervous glances. I sniffed in calculated disdain and spun on my heel, striding off the patch of floor that had become centre stage.

I smiled as I went over the night's accomplishments in my head, then held back a wince at the motion. Blatantly I realised that my mouth was bleeding. I altered my current course – heading for the door – and turned towards the washroom, intending to get cleaned up a bit.

No need to scare Ami more than necessary.

You're probably wondering why I was intentionally traumatising my parents. Well, I suppose I'd better tell you now and get it over with – after all, it is a fairly important part of my story. The answer is because I was an accident. A woopsy. My parents' biggest mistake. You see, Ami and Kaito never intended to have children. I was the complication, the unwelcome baby that ruined the young couple's happy, romantic days of early marriage. They wanted to wait till they were in their late thirties to have kids, and I was born when my mother was just twenty. They told me repeatedly from age four that I was an unwanted burden and an intrusive presence in their household. I can't count the number of times when I was little that my parents brushed me off, not wanting to even be around me because I reminded them that their lives had changed with a single mistake – a mistake named Rin. All my anger and angst, all the toughness and aggression comes back to the hurt I felt the first time my mother looked in my eyes and told me that she wished I'd never been born. And she did tell me that – when other mothers kissed their kids goodnight, Ami would remind me that I hadn't been wanted in the first place.

So there I was, almost sixteen years old, getting into fights and hanging around in the same places as drunks and drug lords.

I didn't care that I was unwanted. I still don't. That was my number one objective all the way; to stop caring what people thought.

It's better now. Now, I have real friends, and I'm not as angry all the time. But my fifteenth year was one of the darkest.

When I got home that night, I found my parents up and the police waiting.

I stopped when I saw the police car and considered bolting, but they'd already seen me and anyway, I'd known this might happen when I'd thrown the first punch.

The scene waiting for me inside looked like it came straight out of a movie. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her arms. My father sat beside her, a comforting hand on her shoulder but murderous anger in his eyes, and two bored-looking policemen lounged at the entrance.

I won't go into detail about what happened, but pretty much the guy that I knocked out had suffered a sever concussion, a broken nose and fractures all over is skull.

The police needed an official-looking document signed by my father and I, and a promise from my parents that they'd watch me more closely in the future.

I laughed out loud at that part.

When the police left, I remember being more frightened than I had been all evening. My father's eyes were bright, almost crazed, and he was glaring at me like he'd enjoy wringing my neck. I'm sure he would've.

For some unknown reason, I remember the next few seconds in horrifically clear detail. Maybe because they marked the beginning of the blackest chapter of my life. Maybe because I'd never imagined what was about to happen. But mostly, I think it was the shock of having my father get up, cross the room, grab me by the front of my shirt and slap me.

I reeled for a moment. Before I could recover he hit me again, a punch this time, and instinctively I lashed out with my feet. I wrapped my ankle around his leg and twisted in a classic judo move. He tumbled, off balance, and I shoved free, ending my manoeuvre with a sharp high-kick to his chest. He fell back onto the table, and I recall the cold feeling of ice trickling down my spine as I saw the new look of absolute hate and unreasonable rage on his face.

Without another look at him or my mother I bolted, my only goal to get as far away from him and his frightening glare as possible. I leapt down the two flights of stairs and made the hallway in record time. I stopped at the front door, ready to flee – then logic caught up with me. Again with the not normal! Anyone else would have run and thought about food, clothes and money later. Not me. I made a split-second decision and ran upstairs to my room, taking the steps three at a time. I threw the door shut and bolted it, profoundly grateful that I'd thought to have a lock installed.

Frantically I pulled out my black backpack and started throwing stuff into it. My spare jacket, two pairs of black jeans, shirts, my wallet with all my money in it and an extra pair of shoes.

I was just zipping it up when a knock sounded on my door. I jerked in surprise, then growled,

"What?"

Nothing for a moment, then Ami said,

"We don't want you to go." No extra words there; Ami was like me in that she always got to the point. I could hear the lie – and the fact that she was literally spitting the words through gritted teeth – but it was enough to make me pause.

"_We_?" I grunted. "Ha."

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and crossed to my window. I threw it open and looked out. I was well practised enough in climbing in and out of this window that getting out now would be a cinch. I'd always used this window for sneaking out to parties.

Ami, hearing the window slide open, started speaking again, faster.

"I have a deal for you," she said.

I paused, the immediately regretted it as she went on.

"You stay here," she said. "We send you to school. A good school. You try to stay out of trouble with the police, and we'll leave you alone."

_They'd send me to school and leave me alone. _

"Where?" I demanded.

"Where what?" Ami said, confused.

"School," I grunted. I hated having to explain things – it was a waist of time and breath. "Where?"

"Oh," Ami said. "Well, maybe, if you pass the entrance exams… Ouran Academy?"

I froze for a second, then fell to the floor, shaking with laughter.

"Ouran academy? Are you _crazy_? Me, at that snot factory? You gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm not," Ami said. "With Kaito being the new company head we can more than afford it, and we'd really like it if you'd go. Besides, with his new position the family is expected to be more upper class, and Ouran is a fitting school. You're more than smart enough to hold your own there, and we don't mind paying."

"In other words, you're actually willing to pay money to hand me over to someone else and ask them to deal with me."

Ami's silence in response to my assessment was confirmation enough.

I laughed without humour, one cold, short sound.

"Alright, fine," I snarled. "But you can tell Kaito that if he ever hits me again I'll do whatever I can to make trouble for him. Tell him that he'd better keep his distance."

There was no reply, and I heard Ami's footsteps retreat down the hall.

I sighed, and the tension drained out of me, leaving me feeling limp and lifeless. I flopped down on my bed. Still fully clothed, I flipped the light off and pulled the covers over me.

I lied and told myself that I didn't mind the fact that Ami and Kaito were obviously trying to get rid of me. That was fine.

What I _did_ mind was the school they were sending me to. All I knew about Ouran Academy was that it was some fancy private academy, probably full of rich snobs. Apparently my parents thought that maybe a learning environment full of goody-too-shoes kids would cure my… aversion to anything normal. My depression, in other words. Of course, I reflected, the root of my problems wasn't really depression – more like an active hatred of anything mundane, safe, domestic or boring. Plus the fact that no one on earth wanted me to be alive, and that included my closest relations.

I mentally ran over the calendar in my head. It was the end of the school year currently, which meant that I would be starting at Ouran in – I counted quickly – three weeks.

Three weeks?

I groaned and pulled a pillow over my head. What had I gotten myself into?

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><p><strong>Woo, that was long. The next chapter is shorter, I just had to get all the background stuff out of the way. What did you think? It is okay? Good? Terrible? I'm aiming for three reviews before chapter two comes out, so please tell me what you thought :) I do appreciate your feedback. Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Arigato, and see you next time. <strong>

**- Rose  
><strong>


	2. Of First Days and Rich Boys

The next three weeks passes bizarrely. Some days seemed like they flew by; hardly had I gotten up and begun my day when night was falling again. Other days took what felt like years to pass; every second seemed like a minute, every minute seemed like an hour, every hour seemed like a day.

I wasn't sure what made the difference in how I perceived time moving, but I undoubtedly preferred the short days. They were easy.

I hardly ever saw Kaito anymore; he was always at work, and when he was home we actively avoided each other. I had unconsciously stopped thinking of him as 'father' the night he hit me. It was impossible to think of him in any affectionate terms, so in my mind, he became _Kaito_, not _dad_. I didn't hate him – I mean, I'd always know he didn't like me – but our fragile coexistence of mutual dislike had taken a darker turn.

Ami also avoided me, though not to the same extent as her husband. She ate with me at lunch and dinner, and sometimes, if she was in a good mood, she would make pitiful attempts at conversation. Mostly, when she was short on things to say, she'd talk about Ouran. Apparently her father had gone to Ouran for his high school years, so she told me what she knew about it. I think she might have been trying to help with the change, but I wasn't interested in her assistance.

I spoke less in those three weeks than I usually did in three days, and that's really saying something. I said good morning to Ami, I thanked her for lunch, I greeted her at dinner, I bid her farewell after dinner and I said goodnight. Sometimes I would speak briefly with the staff or the chauffeur if I wanted to go somewhere, but that was all the speaking I did for the duration of winter holidays. I never spoke to Kaito anymore; for the first time, he seemed content to pretend that I didn't exist. I liked it better that way.

I stopped going out to parties. After all, now that I'd got what I wanted – to go to normal school – there was really no reason to keep up the pretence of enjoying them. So the only times I left the house was to run and to go to the dojo for my Judo and Karate lessons.

When winter holidays started drawing to a close, I began to get nervous. I hate to admit it, but I was scared stiff. I had to remind myself that this was what I had wanted. It wasn't my fault I wouldn't fit in where I was going – if Ami and Kaito wanted to send me to Snob Ville then I was cool with it.

It didn't matter to me that the rest of the students at Ouran had probably never set foot in a bar in their lives, let alone get into a fight. At least, that's what I told myself. I knew that they would be the sophisticated, proper type and that I was anything but. I knew that my appearance alone would stand out like a sore thumb – I was ready to bet that the children at Ouran had never even dreamed of wearing worn black leather or dyeing their hair blood red. No, their hair would all be nice, natural shades of rich mahogany brown, or maybe blonde or black. There would be quite a few raven-haired people like myself, I assumed – since this was Japan, after all – but I would be the only one with red chunks. I considered dying my hair back to its natural black for a split second, then immediately abandoned the idea.

About one week into the three of summer, I took the entrance exams for Ouran.

Now, you're most likely wondering how a bad girl like me would ever be considered for admittance into Ouran Academy. There are two answers and both are simple; the first is that I'm smart. I hate telling people, and I try not to flaunt it, but I am quite literally a genius. I have an IQ of 226; most people aren't over a hundred. I did fairly well in school at our old place, though not as well as I could have done; I just didn't care. Even without listening to the teachers and neglecting my homework, I never got under ninety-five percent on quizzes and tests. The second reason was Kaito's job. It irked me, to realise that I would fit in with the rich, important kids at Ouran more than I'd first thought due to him. He was the head of the second-biggest medical company in Japan and worked as co-associate for the largest, an association called the Otori Group. I didn't pay attention to the specifics, but from what I gathered, his position was a big deal.

Anyway, when the day arrived to take the entrance exam, our chauffeur drove me to the school. I came alone; Ami was out and Kaito was at work. All the paperwork had been singed, so it was just a matter of passing the test, a small matter in which I was confident.

I climbed the wide steps leading up to the main building with some trepidation. It was still holidays, so the school was mostly empty. It was the first time I'd seen the place where I'd be spending the majority of the next two years of my life – it was eerily quiet. I passed no one on the way through the main entrance hall. I mentally reviewed the quick directions Ami had given me – take the north-east corridor, go up the steps, down the hallway, last door on the right.

I tried to rouse my courage by growling at myself for being frightened – what was this place, that it should make _me_ feel nervous? I was _way_ cooler than this.

I squared my shoulders and flipped my hair out of my eyes. Time to go show these rich people that just because I was new to the whole 'upper class' thing and wore black leather didn't mean I wasn't smarter than every one of them.

I won't tell the whole exams story, though that's pretty much it. I went upstairs and found the chairman of the school waiting for me. We talked for a few minutes. Well, mostly he asked me questions and I answered in the shortest way possible. However, I _did_ make an effort to be polite, though I didn't bother to speak any more than usual. For instance, when he asked me what my life at home was like, instead of telling him to mind his own business and to butt out, I told him it was perfectly fine thank you very much.

Eventually he got tired of the mostly one-sided conversation and pulled out the exam papers.

Now, I won't lie to you – it was at that moment that I finally got really nervous. I refused to let it show though, and I thanked him coolly when he handed me the test. I kept my calm mask on with a little effort as he handed me a pen and gestured for me to take a seat at the desk in the middle of the room. I got up from the sofa where we'd been sitting and crossed the room, glancing out of the huge floor-to-ceiling window that served as one of the four walls. I could see a tower like the one we were in, another corner of the school, jutting out against the sky. Bizarrely I noted that the building was pink – what a ridiculous colour for a school – before I sat down.

I read the first question. Disbelief assaulted me as I read it again, and then re-read it for a third time. I skipped down the page and read number thirteen, then number eighteen. This time I almost laughed out loud; these questions were easy! I had almost been hoping that the exam would challenge me, or at least make me think. But then again, I hadn't had to actually struggle in academics in my entire life.

I wrote the exam in record time and passed with flying colors. I aced the math, language and sociology questions, as well as the arts and sciences section.

When I went to hand my paper in, the chairman blanched slightly in surprise; apparently I'd broken the record for the fastest writing time.

That was the only bit of excitement I had in my torturous three weeks of break.

When I got home the house was empty except for the staff, so I quickly fell back into my old routine. The last few days passed quickly enough, with the only break being a letter in the mail signifying my official acceptance into the school.

Finally, the first day of high school at Ouran arrived. My parents had bought the uniform – a disgustingly feminine dress in a sickly shade of bright yellow – but I wasn't going to wear it. The uniform wasn't mandatory, I had stubbornly insisted, and that meant that I didn't have to wear it. If they really wanted me to wear the Ouran uniform, they could buy me the male version. I liked the boy's uniform – it was much better looking, and comprised of a blue button-up over shirt, white undershirt, black tie and pants. It wasn't like me to notice an outfit that wasn't all black, but even I had to admit that as school uniforms went, that one wasn't bad.

So it was that on my first day of school, I arrived in one of the family cars at the entrance of Ouran Academy. Contrary to my parent's pleas, I had worn my regular leather and kept my hair its usual mixture of hot red and midnight black.

As I walked down the long, wide, white stone pathway leading to the school entrance, I ignored the whispers and stares I was getting from the other students. They were exactly like I had expected – some tall, some short, different hair and eye colours, but all with the same disdainful, superior expression as they watched me. I hissed in discomfort and more than a little anger – did they have to be so obvious about it? Now even people who hadn't seen me were turning to see what everybody else was staring at.

_You brought this on yourself_, I reminded myself. _All you had to do was wear the uniform and change your hair. _

But deep down, I knew that even that wouldn't have been enough. I had never been normal, and while doing those things may help disguise me for a while, in the end people always looked at me the way the students of Ouran High did on my first day.

So I kept my head high and my walk confident to the point of arrogance as I stalked into the school, making an effort to exclude a powerful air of _don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-hurt-you_.

I entered the main hallway and looked up, marvelling at how high the ceiling was. When I'd come for exams I must have missed it – but the roof was far above my head, high enough to fit at least a three-story house into it.

_Well, that might be because there are three stories_, I thought wryly. Ignoring the whispers and pointing fingers, I sashayed up to the front desk and collected my schedule from one of the secretaries. She stared at me, not bothering to disguise her curiosity, and I silently took the paper, sending her a glacier-cold look as I did so.

I read my homeroom number off the schedule, then turned to head that direction – and collided with a blonde boy standing behind me.

"Hey, watch it!" I snapped, and instantly regretted it. The boy – or man, really – was very good-looking, one of the most handsome boys I've ever seen, though perhaps too pretty for my usual taste. His hair was a bright yellow-blonde, and he looked like he was about my age or a little older.

_Great way to meet one of your potential classmates, Rin_, I thought.

The boy's expression was a bit taken aback – whether by my appearance or my greeting, I couldn't tell – but his face quickly morphed into a smoother, flirtatious expression.

"I'm sorry. Forgive my carelessness. May I inquire as to your name, my dear?"

As he spoke his eyes burned in a strange way, and I blinked. Holy cow, he was cuter than I thought.

I took an involuntary half-step backward and answered without thinking.

"Rin Amaya. I'm new."

I floundered and tried to avoid looking into his eyes, which were a beautiful shade of deep violet-blue.

"I'm Tamaki Suo," he replied in a silky sweet voice. "It is a great pleasure to meet you, miss." And with that, he took my hand and, ignoring the snakeskin glove, gently brushed his lips against it.

I froze, then snapped. I pulled away and skittered back a full three paces, my heart beating wildly. I like to think I was more angry than anything, but in truth, I was frightened. This boy, with his sweet-talking and pretty eyes, had already made a crack in my armour and I wasn't even halfway into my first day.

"I'm sorry," he said with a little half smile. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Scare me? Was it _that_ obvious?

"Don't worry, it's not obvious," he said, echoing my thoughts with uncanny precision. "I'm just good at reading people. Although I have to admit," his eyes did the burning thing again, "your dazzling beauty has my ability to perceive your feelings quite bewildered."

_Did he just call me beautiful? No, he couldn't have_, I answered myself. I drew my scattered self-control together – not easy, with Tamaki Suo staring at me – and said coldly,

"Thank you. I'll be going now."

I turned to leave, making sure to keep my body posture confident – which was the last thing I felt like – as I swept away from Tamaki. I risked a glance backward, and was rewarded with a glimpse of Tamaki's expression of absolute shock. He wasn't moving (actually, it looked more like he was permanently frozen) so I hoped that I'd surprised him enough to ditch him.

However, hardly had I gained the first few steps of one of the staircases when I heard quick footsteps behind me. I resisted the urge to run – or at least turn around and slam my elbow into his nose – and kept walking. The footsteps reached me, and Tamaki slid around me on the staircase and stopped, forcing me to stop as well.

"I thought I got rid of you," I growled, loosing all pretences of politeness.

Tamaki gulped in shock and his face went pale. I could see that he was completely thrown off; I got the feeling that not many girls would have continued being so cold to him after his first display.

"Flirting doesn't work on me, you know," I said before he could open his mouth.

Tamaki gaped like a fish out of water, and I barely contained a laugh – I pitied this guy's poor friends.

"We'll see about that," he said, forcing a smile.

I sighed; apparently getting rid of him would be harder than I thought. I was considering clouting him with my binder when he slipped his arm around my bag's strap and slung it away from me.

"Let me take that for you," he said.

My mouth opened in shock before I reflexively tried to grab the bag back.

"No," I growled, with less expressiveness than usual.

Tamaki kept the bag out of my reach and smiled again, but I found that I wasn't nearly as affected by his good looks as I had been before.

_I must be acclimatizing to him,_ I thought as I momentarily gave up on getting my bag back. The thought of acclimatising to him was strangely unappealing, despite Tamaki's welcoming manner.

I stepped around him and continued up the stairs, internally groaning when he fell into step beside me. Would I _ever_ get rid of him? How much discouragement did it take for a guy to give up? I mean, it wasn't like his attempts at wooing me were heartfelt. I don't know how I knew, but instinctively I realized that this Suo guy was no amateur at the whole girl thing, which made me dislike him more.

"So what's a beautiful girl like you doing here at Ouran?" he asked amiably.

I glared at him and wished that he'd stop calling me beautiful when he didn't mean it, but decided to respond when he kept looking at me expectantly without a hint of a reaction to my unfriendliness.

"My parents gave up on me," I said flatly. The words _end of story_ were very clear, if unspoken, at the end of the sentence. Tamaki, however, seemed oblivious.

"Gave up on you? That doesn't seem very nice. Forgive me for intruding, but I don't understand. You're obviously lonely, why would anyone give up on you?"

"_Because I made them!"_ I spat, suddenly furious. I ignored his suddenly wide eyes as I moved closer, getting in his face. It didn't escape my notice that I was at least the same height as him, even with the slight crouch that I always unconsciously slid into when I was angry enough to throw a punch. "I don't care who you are," I snarled in a low, soft monotone more menacing than a shout. "I don't care how important you or your family are. I don't even care what your name is. _Nobody_ asks me about myself. Nobody. _Ever_. So just leave me alone, and I'm sure we'll get along fine."

Tamaki was finally silent – he seemed almost dazed – and I snatched my bag and spun on my heel, stalking away before I could ruin that pretty white smile of his.

For some reason, up till that point I'd been almost oblivious to my surroundings – not a normal occurrence for me, as I tried to always be aware of who and what was around me – so I hadn't noticed my audience.

As I walked, girls in bright yellow dresses that had been clustered around Tamaki and I parted like the Red Sea, as if anxious not to get too near me. They gave me dirty looks, which I returned. The few that met my eyes quickly looked away. The suddenly hostile air that I felt radiating from them, however, refused to abate.

There were a few boys in the crowd as well, though they were trying to be less conspicuous about watching me as I moved away from the scene. They didn't seem as angry as the girls; in fact, a few of them seemed almost pleased with something.

I brushed it off. Whatever. The social affairs of this school were totally unrelated to me; all I wanted was to be left alone. Wasn't my fault if the school hottie had to irritate me on the first day.

_The school hottie._ With that errant thought, the reason behind the other girls' new animosity clicked into place. Of course! They all had crushes on Tamaki! He was such a scoundrel. When I'd walked through the front doors, he hadn't noticed me for who I was – he'd just seen another female student who wasn't under his spell yet.

As I found my classroom – which looked more like an eighteenth century ballroom – amidst the whispering, I tried to forget the entire morning. I tried to forget Suo and the honest sincerity in his eyes when he'd asked me my name, or when he'd flippantly said that I was lonely.

It wasn't like I regretted discouraging him – on the contrary, I was more than ecstatic to be rid of my self-assigned admirer – but I was perhaps a bit more melancholy than usual as I took my seat.

**I was having trouble wrapping this chapter up, so I just sorta cut it off… the next one will continue immediately on from this point. Reviews are appreciated. Speaking of reviews, do you know how many I got for last chapter? None. Not **_**one**_**. Now, if you're an author, then you'll know how depressing and discouraging that is. So please please please tell me what you thought of this chapter? I will give you cookies *holds out cookies***


	3. Invitations

**Hello peoples of Fanfiction! So I want to personally thank my reviewers; (awesome name, by the way :P), Kitty13492, and… Breanna Likes Food (I think you should put it up,**** just my opinion, it sounds funny.). Anyhoo, on with chapter three! **

As I found my classroom – which looked more like an eighteenth century ballroom – amidst the whispering, I tried to forget the entire morning. I tried to forget Suo and the honest sincerity in his eyes when he'd asked me my name, or when he'd flippantly said that I was lonely.

It wasn't like I regretted discouraging him – on the contrary, I was more than ecstatic to be rid of my self-assigned admirer – but I was perhaps a bit more melancholy than usual as I took my seat.

The more I thought about Tamaki, the less appealing his flirting became. I went over his behaviour in my head, and nodded to myself – completely phoney. His friendliness hadn't been an act, I was fairly sure of that, but the whole romantic thing was definitely well practised.

I distracted myself from these disconcerting thoughts by looking around the room.

It was huge, decorated and made of a smooth, white stone, maybe marble. There were paintings on the walls, which I guessed were all expensive originals, and a thick crimson carpet covered the floor. I spent a few more minutes cataloguing the paintings – a Da Vinci, a copy of the Monolisa and what looked like a Van Gough. The desks the student sat at were made of wood, and were surprisingly simple considering the current setting. There was one window to my left, and I turned my chair towards it. In all, the room felt nice. Full of rich people, true, but still nice.

I was dragged from my peaceful quiet when someone sat down beside me. I looked over, then moaned out loud when I saw Tamaki's bright blonde hair.

"Thought you'd got rid of me?" he asked. He still seemed to be recovering from the state of shock he'd fallen into when I'd rejected him earlier, but he looked determined.

I didn't reply. Let my expression speak for me, I thought as I glared bloody murder at him.

"Ooh," he said. "Scary."

I sighed and looked away, firmly turning my back on him.

"Alright," he sighed, and I heard defeat in his voice. Would he leave me alone, then? Somehow the thought wasn't as attractive as it should have been.

I jumped when he put a hand on my shoulder, once again checking the urge to smash my elbow into his nose.

"Sorry."

Again, I didn't respond. Maybe if I just stopped replying he'd go away.

"Look, Rin," he said hesitantly, and I winced as he casually used my first name. "I'll leave you alone, if that's what you want. But I want to invite you to come visit me sometime."

Honestly? He really must be crazy.

"I run this club," he went on, and I relaxed slightly. "It's called the Ouran Highschool Host Club. You don't seem like the kind of girl who's in to that sort of thing, but I think you'd enjoy it if you came."

I turned around, curious despite myself.

"I didn't know high schools had host clubs."

"Most don't," he said, seeming glad that I'd stopped ignoring him. "I founded it with my friend Kyoya Otori when we started our first year."

Did he just say _Otori_? I wondered. The family that my father was business partners with? Wow, this school really _was_ full of rich and important people, if the Otori's sent their kids here.

"I don't do host clubs," I muttered, and turned away again. _No matter who might be part of them, _I finished silently. But in truth, I was intrigued.

"It's in Music Room 3 if you change your mind," Tamaki said.

"Fine," I mumbled. _Now go away!_

As if hearing my thought and taking it for an order, Tamaki stood.

"It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rin Amaya," he said smoothly.

I grumbled something unflattering under my breath, and he laughed.

"Come see us," he invited again.

I didn't give him an answer as he got up and, with a last smile for me that was clearly meant to be disarming and which had no effect on me whatsoever, wandered over to a group of girls giggling at the door.

"Hello, my princesses," I heard him say before I turned my attention elsewhere.

What a shallow, flirting idiot. Well, I wasn't going to be caught dead in that club. Not ever.

I told myself that throughout the day. I meant to be firm about it, I really did, but Tamaki's offer kept coming back to me. I still don't know why I couldn't just forget it and move on, but during my classes I would catch myself toying with the idea of popping up to Music Room 3 - just to leave immediately, of course. I wanted to forget Tamaki, but since he was in my class and we were together most every block, it was impossible. He didn't talk to me again, for which I was profoundly grateful – and a little bit disappointed. It wasn't like I wanted him to talk to me because he was _cute_ – on the contrary, I would rather he wasn't so unbearably good-looking – it was more that I felt sort of lonely, and Tamaki was the only one who'd bothered to try and befriend me, despite my rebuffs. Everyone else had taken one look at me and run in the opposite direction.

I managed to stay firm for a whole three days before cracking. I settled into my routine and got used to my classes, and all the while the idea of visiting the host club wheedled away at my resolve. To this day, nothing has been so hard for me to ignore. Maybe it was the innocence I'd felt radiating from Tamaki when I first met him, I don't know, but I couldn't make myself forget.

So it was that at the end of my third day, I found myself making my way slowly up the staircase to Music Room 3.

_I can't believe I'm doing this_, I thought_. I should turn around and go back._ But of course I didn't.

The hallway seemed longer than usual, or maybe that was just my slow pace making it seem more lengthy than it should have been.

I stopped outside Music Room 3.

_This is it, Rin_. I thought. _Turn around. Leave_.

My hand acted almost without my permission and reached out to take the shiny brass doorknob.

_Oh, help me,_ I thought as I turned the knob and pushed the doors open.

**And Rin enters the Host Club. Hehehe, I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist cutting it off there. Don't hate me! And if you don't hate me then please review :) I wrote a poem for all of you. **

**There once was a man named Choo**

**Who didn't send a review **

**So Rose got sad **

**And then she got mad**

**Because Choo didn't do as she said. **

**If you don't review, I will not get mad. However, I will be sad. So please review :D And once again, thanks a ton to my reviews from last chapter. You guys are amazingly awesome! **


	4. Introductions

**Hola! Many thanks to my reviews from last chapter; DoYOULikeWaffles, Brave Little Lion, kitty13492 and Aurora rose1001. You guys are awesome, your feedback makes me smile. You're the reason I keep at this :) I don't have anything else to say this author's note… so on with chapter four!**

For a moment, all I could see was light. It shone from between the door like sunshine, only whiter. I blinked but refused to turn away. A delicious scent that I couldn't place drifted past me, and unconsciously I breathed in. The tense muscles between my shoulder blades relaxed and I unconsciously straightened, again having fallen into a slight crouch in the face of uncertainty.

I stood straight and took a step into the room, feeling more confident than I had since arriving at Ouran. The white-gold light diminished, and I jumped as many voices – all male – spoke one word at once.

"Welcome."

_Umm... Thanks?_ I thought, speechless.

The light dimmed completely, though I still couldn't tell where it had come from, to reveal a group of young men standing in a rough group in the center of the room. There were seven of them, but Tamaki was the only one I recognized. Somehow he seemed even more handsome than he had the last time I'd seen him.

Two were twins – it was impossible to mistake them for anything else – and they were very good-looking. But then again, that went for every guy in the room. They were a bit shorter than I was, slight, with sandy-ginger hair. Their eyes glinted mischievously, and I found myself unwillingly warming to the bold, trouble-making aura the two exuded. They wore identical expressions of interest, coupled with two heart-stopping grins. I stifled a chuckle as I had a sudden, vivid vision of the two of them dressed in Cheshire cat outfits.

The third was the tallest of the six by a foot and a half, and very dark. His eyes were kind but serious, and he was the only one in the room not smiling flirtatiously at me. I liked him for that; I hated being the center of attention. He was darkly handsome, and I got the feeling that he was quiet. Don't ask me how I knew he would be quiet before we spoke, I just had a feeling about it.

The boy at the very edge of the group caught my attention next. He was quite short, much shorter than me, and seemed to be less comfortable with the situation than the others. A new recruit, maybe? His hair was brown, as were his very large – and almost feminine – eyes. He was good-looking, but something in his posture reminded me too much of a girl. He seemed uncertain; nervous, even. I made a mental note to ask Tamaki about him.

The next boy looked to be hardly more than a child, and he didn't even look like he should be in high school yet. His hair was bright blonde – as bright as Tamaki's – and he was adorable, in the little-kid sense. He was standing in front of the tall one, who was between the twins, and as I watched he cast a furtive glance across the room to a table piled with cake. Briefly I wondered what he was doing in a highschool host club.

My wondering was cut short when I turned my appraising eyes to the last man in the group. I caught a glimpse of dark, neatly combed hair falling into silver-grey eyes as my gaze alighted on a perfect, ivory-skinned face. He was standing slightly behind Tamaki, not as central to the group as his blonde counterpart, and I thought bizarrely that the two standing together reminded me of the sun and its shadow – if the sun has a shadow. He was about my height, maybe a bit taller, and easily the best looking person in the room. He wore glasses, and carried a black notebook in one hand. He was smiling, and something in his expression sent shivers down my spine. His eyes were warm at the moment, though they looked like they would be better placed in some type of predatory animal. Beautiful, but dangerous. He was slighter than the tall, dark one but larger than the twins – about the same size as Tamaki, I guessed – but there was something distinctive about how he was shaped. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not usually one to look at a guy's body type, but this one was hard not to notice. He wasn't big and muscular – that wasn't what caught my attention. It was more in the way he stood, in his posture. Even in complete stillness he was graceful, with not a hair or finger out of place. The others suddenly looked dull next to him. Even Tamaki's perfect smile had dimmed. Suddenly I recalled passing this boy in the hallways, and realized that he must have been in my grade, as I'd seen him briefly in the back of the class. I wondered how on earth I'd missed him.

Almost a whole three seconds had gone by while I observed the club members. In those three seconds, the club members had also observed me, and suddenly I was kicking myself internally for not changing my appearance while I had the chance.

When he first saw me, Tamaki's eyes widened in shock; then his smile returned with a renewed sincerity, and he moved forward to greet me.

The feminine one with brown hair simply looked a little surprised, before his smile returned. He still seemed a bit tense, but at least he wasn't too badly shocked.

The twins' first reaction to me was more memorable. Both jaws dropped open, then snapped shut in response to one elbow in the ribs each from the tall one. They controlled their expressions, but I could tell that they'd never seen a girl like me before.

The tall, dark one's eyes narrowed slightly and he made a small, almost imperceptible move toward the blonde boy, but other than that he did not respond.

The only one who did not visibly react to me was the attractive one with glasses.

The blonde boy's initial response to the girl he saw coming through the doors was – and I kid you not – to say, loud and clear,

"Why did Tama-chan invite a Goth girl? I thought we didn't have any at Ouran."

I laughed, which in its' self was weird, and ignored the shocked silence that permeated the room.

"I'm not gothic," I told him. "My fashion sense is a little skewed, that's all."

"Oh," he replied. His voice reminded me of a very young child.

"Rin," Tamaki said as he reached me. "You came."

"Yep," I said, resigned to my fate.

I noted the slightly surprised looks on the twin's faces when Tamaki used my name – apparently he didn't normally address customers so informally.

"Welcome to the host club," Tamaki said silkily. "So, who did you come to see today?"

"Umm…" I replied, more than a little thrown off, "I didn't know I got to choose."

The twins, obviously sensing my discomfort, said in perfect unison,

"Well, maybe she doesn't know her type. You should explain, this one looks like she's kind of new to this."

I blanched at being called _she_ – I was right in front of them, after all – but I was thankful enough for the distraction to ignore it.

"Of course, how thoughtless of me," Tamaka said. "Well, the host club takes advantage of each member's individual characteristics to please the customers. There's the Hitachin twins Hikaru and Kaoru as the Little Devil type," he gestured to the twins, "Mitskuni Hanninozuka, also known as Honey, as the Boy Lolita type," he continued with a glance at the little blonde boy, "Takashi Morinozuka, also called Mori, as the dark, quiet type, the princely type," he said, pointing to himself, "and, of course, Kyoya Otori as our Cool type." With the last one he nodded towards his dark-haired friend with glasses, and a surge of dizziness swept over me as Kyoya looked over at me and smiled. "And then we have our newest member," Tamaki said, oblivious to my sudden distraction as he gestured to the brown haired one. "This is Haruhi Fujioka, he's the Natural type."

_Definitely the cool type_, I thought dazedly. Then logic caught up with me. _What am I DOING? _

Tamaki read the sudden panic in my eyes and took my arm.

"It's ok, you don't have to decide now," he said calmingly. "Come, Amaya-San, why don't you sit with me?"

If I hadn't been watching Kyoya out of the corner of my eye, I wouldn't have noticed the unmistakable, if brief, surprise that flitted across his face as Tamaki said my last name.

I didn't react when Tamaki took my arm and started leading me over to a couple of couches in the middle of the room. Behind us the rest of the club seemed to re-start, obviously picking up from where they'd left off when I'd arrived. They stirred, and the group dissipated – Hikaru and Kaoru wandered over to a large sofa sitting by the window, and Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai disappeared into a side room. The brown haired one – Haruhi – walked to one of the couches in the room and flipped open a textbook. Kyoya cast me a strange little glance before moving to sit at a table on the other side of the room with a laptop. He immediately vanished behind it, and the clicking of keys quietly reached us. I wondered idly what he was doing.

I sighed and looked back at Tamaki. How had I ended up here? I shifted slightly on the couch, sliding to put more space between Tamaki and me. I think he noticed, but he didn't say anything.

"So, Amaya-San, how has your time at Ouran been so far?" Tamaki asked casually.

"Quite good, as of now. Almost exactly what I expected," I answered truthfully.

"Oh? And what were you expecting?"

"Well…" Snobby rich kids, ridiculously easy classes, lots of people to watch and freedom from parents who don't want to deal with me. "Pretty much what I got. I mean, the classes are what I thought they would be, and the people seem nice enough." The last part was a lie, and it scalded my tongue as I spoke it. "But I am surprised by the activities outside of class time. I've never heard of a Highschool with a host club before."

"No," Tamaki said. "You wouldn't have. The host club is unique to Ouran."

"I see," I said in a politely interested tone.

Tamaki closed the distance between us again by leaning forward slightly, his flirtatious expression presenting itself again, and I hissed quietly before he could speak.

"Can't we just talk?" I asked. He faltered, then sat back again with a smile.

"Of course, how careless of me. I'm used to girls who come here to be romanced."

I thought about that for a moment and shuddered. No, I just wanted to talk to a friend – or at least someone who didn't dislike me.

"No, I just… I don't even know why I'm here. Or why I can't walk away. Or why I'm telling you this." I stopped talking before I could say something else that I'd regret: I'd already told Suo more than I meant to. "So you founded the club?" I asked, desperate for a new topic.

"Yes," he responded. "I had the idea at the end of my last year in middle school."

"And you're the president?"

"Yeah."

"It must be a lot of work, managing a club plus all the academics we have to do."

"Actually, not really," Tamaki said. "Kyoya is vice-president, and he does most of the actual work. He still manages to stay at the top of the class, as well. I don't know ho

w he makes time for it all."

"Right," I said, very pleased with the turn the conversation had taken. I glanced over at the object of our discussion, and was startled to see Kyoya watching us over his laptop. Our eyes met briefly, and to my chagrin it was I who looked away. Tamaki noticed where I was looking and grinned, and suddenly something in his expression reminded me of the Hitachin brothers.

"Hmm," he muttered, and I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Something told me you might be more into the cool type," he said in explanation.

I almost blushed. Almost. I felt the heat trying to rush to my face and made a conscious effort to relax and control my breathing. I'd always had a degree of control over my blushing, and I _really_ didn't want to flush here. I couldn't think of anything to say to Tamaki's assessment, and it didn't seem to call for a reply, so I didn't make one.

"Oh, come, Rin," he said softly when I was silent. "I see the way you look at him when you think I'm not watching you."

This time I couldn't stop a faint pink color from appearing on my cheeks. I glanced over at where Kyoya sat again, and I was glad that he was too far away to hear our low voices.

Tamaki slid over to me, and this time I didn't move away, mainly because I'd run out of couch to retreat on. The only other option would be getting up, and I wasn't quite ready for that. He reached up and gently brushed my face with his fingers, lightly brushing my cheekbone.

"You look lovely when you blush," he told me. "Your skin is beautiful, all snow and pale pink roses."

I sat still for a moment, allowing the contact, before pulling away. I opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment the door to the room opened, distracting me.

**Again I was having difficulty finishing this chapter, so I just cut it off. I seem to have trouble with that… if it's not a cliff-hanger or a question then I can't wrap up chapters. You guys love me anyway, right? Reviews are greatly appreciated :) reviews are like chocolate cake, only better. Or lollipops. Or candy apples. Or fudge. Or… well you get my point. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/alerted/favourited, or even if you've just read ****it so far without doing any of the above, you're amazing :) please review! **

**There was a girl named Nemu**

**who really liked to sew **

**she dropped a review**

**and with no more adeui**

**Rose gave her a sewing machine that flew.**

**My poems are getting worse as I go, aren't they? Aah well... Review! **


	5. Cool meets Cold

**It's been so long since I updated, I wouldn't be surprised if you've all forgotten about this story and moved on. You know, the one about the depressed teenager with anger issues named Rin? Yeah, that one. I'm so sorry! Grade twelve attacked and tried to kill me. I can't promise a fast update, I've been sooo busy, but I will do my best. So here is chapter five. **

* * *

><p>I sat still for a moment, allowing the unpleasant contact of Tamak's hand on my face, before pulling away. I opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment the door to the room opened, distracting me.<p>

Three girls all dressed in the yellow uniform gown swept into the music room. They were obviously a group of friends, judging by the way they stood, all clumped together. The girls on the left and right sides of the little triangle were both short, with brown hair and eyes. They were both quite pretty, but not noticeably so, and they both stood at an angle to the third member. They seemed, in most respects, completely ordinary. For a split second I envied them that, but the fleeting sensation lasted only a fraction of a second.

The girl in the middle of the group was the one that held my attention. She was tall, almost my height, and she had rich auburn hair that glimmered dark bronze in the correct light. Her eyes were emerald green, and such a hot shade that I could see them without difficulty from across the room. She far outstripped her two companions and me when it came to looks; this girl was undoubtedly the most beautiful female in the room, hands down. She was gorgeous – there was no other way to describe her. She could have held her own on any movie set in any media production that I could think of. Her posture was confident and sure, and she held herself in a manner that made even badass me want to look away.

She scanned the room regally, with the air of a queen surveying her subjects. Her emerald eyes found what they were looking for, and a smile lit her face as she located Tamaki. That smile faded immediately when she saw who he was sitting with. Now, I'm sure she wasn't always that possessive – I mean, Tamaki _is_ a host, after all, romancing females is his job – but for some reason, seeing Tamaki and I together made her angry, and I could see it. When her eyes alighted on me, the first impression she got was, _Dangerous_. The next thing she thought was, _get her away from Tamaki_. I could almost hear the words. I couldn't pinpoint anything in her expression, but womanly intuition told me she was incensed. I assumed that Tamaki could see her irritation as well, so I was surprised when he ignored it – or perhaps he just didn't notice. He _did_ seem rather oblivious.

"Emi-hime," he said in badly disguised surprise. "And Ayaka and Ayano as well, what a pleasure! Why don't you come join us?"

"Actually, Tamaki," the blonde, something told me this one was Emi, said, "I was hoping to see you alone today. Ayaka and Ayano have expresses a desire to visit the Hitachin twins, so I thought today would be a good time. You are open for business, right?" As she spoke the last sentence Emi's voice turned uncertain, and my interest piqued. Had Tamaki told them that the club was closed today? But why would he do that? And after all, they had been assembled and waiting for me when I'd arrived, so it didn't make sense that they were closed.

"The website schedule changed," interjected one of the brown haired girls, Ayaka or Ayano. Randomly I noted the physical similarities between the two again, and realized that they must have been sisters. "Didn't you order the change?"

"No," Tamaki said, and I had a vivid flashback of Kyoya watching us over the rim of his laptop, a sly smirk playing across his lips. "But I would not dispute anything that brings three beautiful flowers such as yourself to my humble palace. I would rather live a thousand years in servitude than have waited another day to behold you."

I nearly gagged, then retrained myself. What made it worse was the identical lovestruck look that was dominant on the girl's faces. How could they not see through that?

"Rin, my dear, I'm afraid I must see Emi," Tamaki said as he turned back to me. "She did have an appointment before I changed today's hours. I'm so very sorry, but there's only one of me to go around… I'm in such demand, it's simply flabbergasting." He didn't look flabbergasted, however, as he took Emi's arm and, with a wink at the two other girls, led his new guest over to one of the free tables near Kyoya.

"Kyoya, would you mind looking after Rin for me?" Tamaki muttered with a small nod in my direction.

"Of course," Kyoya said. I wasn't sure, but I thought that as Tamaki turned away something almost like satisfaction flickered over Kyoya's face. Then it was gone. Emi gave me a triumphant glare as Tamaki seated her at the table, seemingly happy with herself for stealing her favorite host back, but I was not interested in either Tamaki or exchanging dirty looks with one of his jealous admirers. I was more preoccupied with how the Host Club's website schedule had mysteriously changed, conveniently landing Kyoya with the task of entertaining me. It was only a coincidence that Kyoya was online when it had happened, and that he was probably one of the only two people with the access or motivation to want to change that sort of thing.

As I thought, Kyoya snapped his laptop shut and got up smoothly from the table. My mind wandered away from its original topic of thought as he walked towards me, and then went completely blank as he sat down beside me in Tamaki's original seat. I liked the second occupant of the spot better.

I hardly noticed as the twins flitted over and escorted Ayaka and Ayano away, where to I didn't see or care. I was more interested in a certain Otori Kyoya. Usually I would never have thought such a proper, smart, and probably manipulative guy was cute, but somehow Kyoya seemed different. I knew, however, that for the sake of my father's business I would have to be careful at first. Kyoya may have been my classmate and part of the host club I was visiting, but he was still an Otori, and that meant that his father and mine were in a very delicate business relationship, the smallest disturbance of which may push it irreparably out of balance. Just for that moment, however, it was all I could do to keep my head.

"Hello," I said coolly, the perfect imitation of being cool and collected.

"Hello," he replied, and I sighed silently at the sound of his voice. Then I realized exactly how _feminine_ I was acting and blurted the first thing that came to my mind. "You changed the host club's website, didn't you? You wanted those girls to come and occupy Tamaki."

Kyoya was quiet for a quick beat, just long enough for me to know that I was at least partially right. He drew a breath in, as if to respond, but then let it out without speaking. All the while I yelled at myself internally. _Why can__'__t I keep my mouth shut? First Tamaki gets me to talk about my feelings, which should __**never**__ happen, and now I__'__m blurting out the first thing I think! What is wrong with me? I__'__m smarter than this! He__'__s going to think I__'__m a complete, blathering idiot! _

Kyoya's glasses gleamed, obscuring his eyes, and his face was as inscrutable as usual; totally unreadable. I waited for him to say something, and before the silence could get awkward he did.

"What makes you think I changed the scheduled hours?" he asked. His tone made me think of the purr of a very self-satisfied kitten, or maybe the warning hiss of a desert cobra. I don't know how the two sounds can be contained in a single sentence, but Kyoya's voice at that moment managed it.

"Well… You were surprised when Tamaki said my last name, which was presumably also when you learned that Kaito is my father. You were the only one who _wasn__'__t_ surprised when those girls arrived, and you were also the only one of the club who had Internet access in the past twenty minutes or so. And I'm guessing that as vice president, you are one of the only people who can make changes to the site besides Tamaki, and he knew nothing about it. Websites don't just go changing themselves. And then there is the fact that you're an Otori, which means I can't put anything past you."

At the beginning of my speech, Kyoya's expression had been one of carefully controlled blankness. However, by the middle the first flicker of real interest had crossed his face, and at the very end a small smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. It wasn't a particularly happy smile, more fascinated and curious, but I got the feeling he didn't smile often, for any reason.

"Well, Rin-san, you certainly understand the politics of it," he said. "And you also understand that of course I cannot tell you if you are correct or not."

"Of course," I echoed, unruffled. I'd been expecting that, but I was confident in my judgment. "Does it make a difference if I am already sure?"

"No," he said. His smile was gone again, but that glimmer of interest refused to leave his eyes.

I sighed internally and let it go.

"So Rin, how are you enjoying Ouran? I understand that this is your first experience in a private school?"

"Very much, thank you," I said, suddenly aware that the statement had been made true only in the past few minutes. "And yes, it is. I was homeschooled till – Hold on," I broke off. "How did you know that this is my first time in private school?"

Kyoya's hand tightened slightly on the closed laptop he still held, and the pieces clicked before he spoke.

"I make a point of researching all our guests, so when I learned that Kaito Amaya's daughter was coming to Ouran I looked you up. You were much harder to find online than most, Rin-San. And there was precious little information to be found, even in our company's medical records."

I groaned inside; of course he'd researched me. I should have expected that as well.

"So what did you find?" I asked, a tad apprehensive.

"Not much," Kyoya replied. "You moved to Japan in 2001, then moved again in 2006. You are your parents' only child and have few friends. Other than that, I couldn't find anything on you except your name. There weren't even any pictures."

I breathed a quick sigh of relief – at least he hadn't come across the important bits. But then, I couldn't think of any reason why my life story would be online.

_Now you know as much about me as I know about you_, I thought_. No unfair advantages._

"That's all there is to know," I told him. "You're not missing much."

"Hm," he said. He seemed distracted, and I wondered what was going on behind those inscrutable gray eyes.

"So, you're the youngest in your family, right?" I asked, pulling him out of his reverie.

"Yes," he replied. "I have two older brothers and an older sister."

"Oh, you have a sister?" I asked. I'd heard about the three Otori boys, but this was the first I'd heard of a daughter.

"Yes," he said again, and I detected an undercurrent of something in his voice – was that _affection_? "Her name is Fyumi," he went on. "She's the second oldest."

"Right," I said. "And she's married, or…?"

"Yes, she was married just out of highschool," Kyoya replied.

"Seems kind of young to get married," I commented.

"It was," Kyoya said. "The marriage was arranged to a potential business partner." I heard and saw nothing new in his face or tone, but something made me think he didn't approve.

"Ah," I said in understanding. Of course Yoshio Otori would arrange a wedding for his daughter that was profitable for his industry; I would expect nothing less from a businessman of his stature. Not that I approved.

"But enough about me," Kyoya said, and I saw a shadow of Tamaki's flirtatious expression appear on his face. "I want to know about you. You have no siblings, correct?"

"Yes," I said. "My parents never intended to have children at all, actually."

"I see. And why did you decide to come to Ouran?"

"Well, I…" I trailed off, not at all pleased with where this conversation seemed to be going. "It seemed to be the best place to finish highschool. I'd been home schooled for years, and my parents thought it would be a good idea to put me in private school instead." There, that wasn't all a lie.

"Hmm. So, Rin, what kinds of things do you like to do?"

The conversation went on like that for a while, and I found myself warming to this relatively cold man. He asked about me, and while I knew that it was his job to listen whether he found it interesting or not, I couldn't help but enjoy having someone to talk to. He made me feel at ease, something that hadn't happened to me since… well, ever. I was more relaxed around him than I was around my own blood relations. We left out any more discussions about politics or our father's businesses, and for a while I was almost happy. I wanted to keep the flow going – to keep the illusion from evaporating. I knew that when the host club found out what I was really like, that I was severely depressed and had been in trouble with the police, things would probably change drastically. But for the time being, I let it go and allowed myself to be comfortable just talking to someone.

Other customers started arriving, and throughout the time I was there, I saw countless girls enter and head straight for Tamaki. They didn't glare at me, and I was glad that they weren't as paranoid as Emi seemed to be. The club filled quickly, but no one interrupted Kyoya and I. I thought that was strange at first, till I noticed the covert glances we were getting from the customers. The other girl's glances weren't hostile like they had been, but neither were they particularly friendly. I shifted uncomfortably and ignored it, although I was a little put out – I was visiting a host club, which was a very ordinary thing to do. Why did they have to stare at me even when I _was_ making an effort to be normal?

No one approached us, for which I was both grateful and irritated – I was glad no one was disturbing us, but at the same time, it made me wonder how the other girls saw me, that they wouldn't even approach me. I knew that if Kyoya had been alone, or even with a different guest, other girls would have approached to request him. With me there, none of them dared.

Distracted, I missed a question of Kyoya's.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.

"I was wondering if you'd ever considered a career in professional modeling," he repeated with a small – and probably fake – smile. "You certainly have the looks and figure for it."

What was it with shallow, flirting idiots complementing me today? Although I did have to give him some credit, as this was the first obviously untrue flattery he'd given me. At the mention of my figure I unconsciously pulled my jacket closer around my shoulders. I hated that topic; I knew perfectly well that my figure was nothing special, and that was one thing I did _not_ want to discuss.

"Um, no, I haven't," I told him. "I was actually considering a career in either computer sciences or military engineering. That is, if for some reason I don't go into the family business after my father."

I sighed as I thought of my future job – I really didn't want to go into the medical business, but it was customary for children to take over for their parents, and anyway, if I took over for Kaito I wouldn't have to take extra schooling or get a proper job.

"What are you planning on doing after highschool?" I asked, honestly curious.

"Well," Kyoya pushed his glasses back on his nose with two fingers, "I was intending to go to medical school immediately after graduation. But recently I've been rethinking that particular course of action. So at present, I must admit that I do not know."

The host club's famous Shadow King didn't know?

"Hmm," I muttered. "Me neither, really."

The Otori boy didn't reply, and the short pause in the conversation was broken by Honey as the boy lolita bounced over to the couch, closely followed by Mori.

"Hey Kyo-chan, Rin-chan!" the little blonde called. "Our customers just left, so Takashi and I thought we'd come and see you."

"Hey Honey-sempai, Mori-sempai," I said, deciding not to comment on his use of 'chan'.

Honey-sempai scrambled up onto the couch and climbed onto my lap. Mori took a seat across from us on the loveseat, and Kyoya shifted to give the boy Lolita and I some more room.

"So, what are you guys up to?" Honey inquired innocently.

"We were just talking about what we were going to do after highschool," I replied. "As of right now, we don't know."

Honey grinned. "Neither do I! It's more fun that way."

I smiled back unconsciously and let the little blonde snuggle in closer.

"Do you want some cake?" he asked. "We have all kinds! Chocolate's my favorite, but I like vanilla and strawberry too, and caramel, and raspberry, and blueberry… I guess I like them all."

I smiled, but politely declined his offer.

Honey fetched a large plate with a massive piece of chocolate cake on it for himself and bounded back over to the couch, returning to his spot on my lap. The four of us talked like that for a while – or really, Honey, Kyoya and I talked while Mori watched us and added an occasional "Mmm."

Before I knew it the room was starting to empty, and I gasped in shock when I glanced at my watch.

It was five-thirty, which meant that I'd been at the host club for two hours.

Two hours?

My mother was going to kill me.

"I have to go," I said blankly. "I seem to have lost track of the time."

"Aw," Honey said in disappointment. "Do you have to?"

"I'm afraid so," I answered. "But I can come back tomorrow." Only when the words were past my lips did I think about them. Did I really want to come back the next day?

"Yay!" the little blonde sang. "I liked having you here today, Rin-chan."

I smiled past my worried frown. _Yes_, I thought, _I want to come back._

"Thanks, Honey-sempai, I liked being here."

I stood, reluctantly drawing away. I offered a small bow – a polite formality I hadn't used in years – and thanked the three of them.

"So, can we expect you tomorrow?" Kyoya asked as I turned to leave.

"Yes," I answered, and felt a sense of finality descended. "I'll be here."

* * *

><p><strong>And there it is. Please review? You guys make me happy with your feedback. Thanks so much to everybody who has reviewed so far, or if you've favouritedalerted without reviewing you're awesome to. The speed of my next update all depends on if you guys still want to read it… and I won't know unless you tell me. So PLEASE review and let me know! Byes, and thanks for reading!**


	6. Realization

**Hey everybody! I FINALLY got around to updating. Long chapter this week, it was originally two but I decided to splice it and make it longer. So yeah. Thanks A TON to my reviewers from last week, I'm always so shocked that anyone enjoyes the crap I call my writing, so your reviews make me extremely happy :) **

**And, just in case you guys don't remember what was going on I'll give a little recap; last chapter Rin visited the host club. She was talking to Kyoya, and at the end she remembered that she was late to go home and she had to leave. **

**Anyway, enough of me talking. Onwards! **

* * *

><p>I stood, reluctantly drawing away. I offered a small bow – a polite formality I hadn't used in years – and thanked the three of them.<p>

"So, can we expect you tomorrow?" Kyoya asked as I turned to leave.

"Yes," I answered, and felt a sense of finality descended. "I'll be here."

Five minutes later, I was making my way down the white stone steps and through the garden to the gates. I could see my limo waiting, and briefly I felt bad for making my driver wait an extra two hours. I shifted my bag, which was slung over one shoulder, and quickened my pace. I glanced back at the school, and movement in one of the windows caught my eye. I looked more carefully, and was able to distinguish a figure behind the school's dark interior; someone was watching me. I tensed unconsciously and stopped, turning slightly. I didn't want to make it obvious, so I pretended to admire some of the flowers on the side of the path as I looked discretely up at the window. The figure was standing half behind the curtain, gazing directly at me. I couldn't see the person's features in the bad light, but something about the body shape reminded me of Kyoya. Just as I thought his name a car passed by on the street, and the light from the headlights illuminated a pair of glasses and most of my watcher's face. Yep, it was Kyoya. Why he was watching me I had no idea, but I decided it didn't matter. I didn't make eye contact, choosing instead to continue my trip to the sleek black vehicle waiting at the curb, pushing thoughts of the host club out of my mind as I went.

When I got back to the house, Ami was waiting for me.

"You're late," she said as I walked in the door. No 'how was your day,' or 'nice to have you home.'

"Ten points for observation," I snapped. "Of course I'm late. And it's nice to see you to."

"_Why_ are you late?" Ami articulated.

"Because I wanted to be," I said sarcastically. "I visited a club at school after hours and it went late. Well," I contradicted myself, "I forgot the time."

Ami raised an eyebrow but did not speak again.

"Kaito home?"

"No. He's at a conference in America; he won't be back for two days."

"Oh. Any calls?"

"No."

"Well then." I paused to see if there was anything else Ami wanted, and when she didn't speak, I turned and began climbing the large spiral staircase to my room. It was sort of pointless, I reflected as I went, to ask Ami if there had been any calls for me. I didn't have any friends who would be calling, and anyway, even if they did I probably wouldn't want to talk to them.

I arrived at the top of the stairs and turned right, traveling along the lengthy corridor to the very last door on the left.

I pushed open the door and breathed a deep sigh as I entered the room. Of all the places I spent time in, my room was my favourite.

The walls were a pale honey-gold, and the trim was a deep bronze. Sunlight filtered through the gauzy white curtains hanging at the window, making the metallic paint sparkle like tiny diamonds were scattered around in it. The bed was a double and situated on the far side of the spacious area, shoved up against the wall. More white gauze flowed from the ceiling to end at the floor around the bed in a cascading canopy, and white ties held back the side facing the door so it wouldn't get in the way. A white dresser stood off to one side, and a walk-in closet interrupted the gold color of the walls at the foot of the bed. To my left, pushed up against the wall, was a simple desk holding a sleek black laptop. The shiny surface of the desk was empty except for the computer, and as I passed I ran my fingers over the smooth black surface affectionately. If there was one material thing I really cared about, it was that laptop. I used it for everything – communication, research, homework, and journaling. I kept it a secret, but I sometimes kept a cyber-journal of sorts. It was nothing fancy, just a Word file on my hard drive, but it helped me get my feelings out on occasion.

I dropped my school bag unceremoniously on the floor and collapsed onto the bed. I stared up at the ceiling through the white material of the canopy and just lay there. Today, I'd finally visited the host club. I shouldn't have been happy about the fact, but for some reason the thought brought a quick smirk to my lips. I liked the hosts – they were nice, even when they were flirting, and they made me feel at home. Tamaki's face appeared in my mind, and I smiled as I remembered. A shadow of dark hair appeared, but I pushed it back before it could fully form.

I rolled over with a sigh, banishing thoughts of the host club boys, and then pulled myself to my feet and went to start on my homework. It had been a long day, and I was really looking forward to a nice, long sleep that night.

* * *

><p>The next day after school, despite my best attempts to forget the notion, I visited the host club again.<p>

"Rin-chan!" A childish voice squealed as I pushed open the white doors.

_Brace for impact_.

Honey hurtled towards me and landed in my arms, and I smiled at the honest joy in his eyes. "You came!" he exclaimed.

"Mmm-hmm," I said in agreement. "Hello, Mori-sempai," I said to the tall shadow behind Honey.

He nodded to me, opting not to respond verbally. I put Honey down, and he promptly bounced over to a couch where the twins and Haruhi were sitting, leaving me with his dark-haired friend. Kyoya and Tamaki were nowhere to be seen, and I assumed that they were attending to some club-related business.

"Rin-chan," Honey called over, "Do you want to sit with all of us today? There's no one else here yet."

I glanced at the twins again, remembering their first reaction to me, but they seemed to be over it by now.

"Yeah, Rin-san," one of them said.

"You have to try the little-devil type before you can really pick your favourite properly," the other finished with a devilish smirk.

I scoffed good-naturedly.

"Yeah well, I'm not sure if I want to pick a favourite type. You're all pretty cool so far."

I made my way over and sat down a safe distance away from the twins, but they weren't having any of that; one of them moved so that I was sandwiched between them, and then they both scooted closer. Briefly I saw Haruhi roll his eyes.

"Guys," I said warningly, but they ignored me.

"Relax," the Hitachins chorused.

"_Don't_ tell me to relax," I growled, and leaned away. It was kind of hard, though, considering that I had one twin on each side and the couch behind.

"So, now that you're here," one said as he drew closer,

"What do you want to do?" the other finished.

"Get away from you," I answered truthfully.

They smirked identical, evil grins.

"Aw, come on Rin," the twin on my right said.

"You need to have some fun," the twin on my left ended.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know what their idea of 'fun' entailed.

"Um, no thanks," I said and swiftly left the couch and switched places to a nearby chair, conveniently placing Mori between them and me. I glared, but they only smirked wider.

"Are you two devils harassing our guests again?" a voice said from the doorway.

"Tama-chan!" Honey said. "And Kyo-chan, you're back!"

I turned to see Tamaki and Kyoya standing at the entrance to the room, and again I was reminded of the bizarre similarity to the sun's shadow. Any irritation I might have felt vanished.

"Hello," Tamaki said as he sauntered in. Kyoya just nodded to the room in general and walked over to a table that I now noticed held his black laptop. He sat down, and a moment later the soft clicking of keys filled the room.

"Hey, Tamaki," I replied. "Where were you?"

"Our class went late," he explained briefly. "I'm glad you decided to come again, Rin-hime,"

"Just Rin," I growled. Then I edited that apparently rude statement by adding, "Please, just use my first name. And that goes for all of you."

"Alright then Rin," Tamaki acquiesced as he wandered over to the group. His eyes did the smouldering thing again, but I found that it didn't affect me in the slightest. Ah well – he could keep trying to get me to like him for as long as he wanted, it wouldn't change my mind. "How did you enjoy the club yesterday?" He asked.

I smiled. "Very much. I've never really had the chance to do anything like this before, and it was quite enjoyable."

Tamaki seemed pleased to hear it. "I'm glad. We make it our job to ensure your comfort, Mademoiselle."

I sighed, not sure if I was pleased or irritated. I decided on being pleased. I mean, it wasn't every day that someone acted like they cared.

I noticed Haruhi looking at me strangely, and looked over. He blanched and glanced away, and I raised an eyebrow. What was with that?

At that moment the doors swung open, and again, girls in yellow umbrella dresses entered.

"Princesses," Tamaki said as he sauntered over to them. "How are you today?"

I smiled, not nearly as irritated with his flirting as I had been before.

"What are you thinking?" one of the twins – I think it was Kaoru – asked, reclaiming my attention.

"What?" I said oh-so-intelligently.

"You look like you're thinking hard about something," he replied.

"Oh. It's nothing," I said. "I'm just a bit distracted."

"Ooh, is my beauty distracting you, my dear?" Tamaki called from the other side of the room. "I know, I can be quite dazzling sometimes. But fear not, the effect of my nearness won't last forever."

"I – hey, no way!" I snapped. "I didn't mean _you_!"

Tamaki, however, seemed convinced, so I just tuned him out as he went on a long rant about the dazzling qualities of his so-called 'beauty'.

"Is he always like this?" I whispered to Haruhi.

"Usually," he replied. "Sometimes worse."

"Worse?" Tamaki said, stopping mid-rant. "Why would you say such a thing about daddy?"

"'Daddy'?" I mouthed to Haruhi.

"Don't ask," he replied with a groan.

Tamaki whined a bit more about Haruhi disrespecting her father, which I thought was more than a little weird, and I remained on the couch, talking with the twins. They seemed to have realized that their brotherly love act wouldn't work on me, so they didn't even try it.

"So Rin," one of the twins asked slyly, "Would you like to play a game?"

"Um… Sure?" I said. "You two make me nervous when it comes to games."

The Hitachins laughed in perfect synchronization.

"Don't worry, it's easy. It's called the 'Which one is Hikaru?' game."

"I'm supposed to guess?" I asked.

"Yeah," one of them said.

"Up till now, nobody except Haruhi has managed to tell us apart," the other ended.

"Well…" I said. I gazed at each of them, trying to find a difference; a variation in eye color, a difference in clothes or expression, but they seemed to be identical. Still, I wasn't going to give up; stubbornly I kept searching for a difference.

"You can tell them apart?" I said to Haruhi without looking away from the Hitachins.

"Yeah," he replied.

"How?" I asked.

"No fair!" the twins interjected. "You can't ask for help."

"Alright then," I said, pointing to the twin on the right. "You're Hikaru." It was a shot in the dark; in reality I had no idea which was which.

"Uh-oh, you got it wrong," they chorused.

I narrowed my eyes at them; something told me that that would have been their response even if I'd guessed right. But seeing as I really had no idea, I let it go.

"No she didn't," Haruhi interjected.

I glanced over.

"Aw, come on Haruhi," they whined. "That's no fun."

"It's not fair, either," Haruhi asserted. 'You're Hikaru," he said, pointing to the twin on the right, "and you're Kaoru," he finished, pointing to the twin in the left.

"How do you _do_ that?" I asked.

Haruhi smiled. "It's easy. Hikaru always looks more mischievous than Kaoru. Plus, Kauru is usually the one who finishes sentences, while Hikaru starts them. And their voices sound different. So if you listen to the way they speak, it's not too difficult."

I almost laughed at the stunned look on the Hitachin's faces.

"Wow Haruhi," I said. "You're good at that."

He smiled. "Thanks."

At that moment Tamaki came strutting over, trailing an entourage of yellow-clad girl behind him. I saw Haruhi grimace and wondered briefly what was going on between them.

"Hey boss," the twins chorused.

"Hi Tamaki-san," I said, earning dagger-like glances from his female followers.

"Hi," he said as he gestured for the other girls to sit down. He grabbed a chair for himself and positioned it so he was right next to me. I sent him a dagger-like glare of my own at the closeness, but either he didn't notice or he was ignoring me. I sighed and resigned myself to sitting next to him.

"Ladies, this is Rin Amaya," he introduced me to the girls. "Rin, these are our most regular customers." He recited their names, and to each I gave a single, cold nod, most of which were not returned.

_At least I'm acknowledging their existence_, I thought bitterly as the last girl turned away without any sign of actually noticing the person she was being introduced to. _At least I _see_ them. They don't seem to see me. _I turned away, mirroring their cool attitude. If they wanted to play the ignoring game, I was more than happy to oblige.

"So Haruhi-san," I said, cutting of another girl in mid-sentence. "You're here on a scholarship, right?" I noticed that the girl – I think her name was Nori – looked a little put out. I smirked.

"Yes," he said. "I was lucky to get into such a good school."

"What do you want to do for a career?" I asked him.

"I want to be a lawyer," he replied. "My mother was one, so when she died I decided I wanted to follow in her footsteps."

"Oh, your mother died?" Nori said, hands flying to her mouth. "I'm sorry."

Haruhi smiled fleetingly. "Don't be. It was a long time ago."

I felt a twinge of sympathy mixed with jealousy. Haruhi didn't have a mother anymore, but at least his mother had loved him.

"You're a commoner, aren't you?" Nori continued. "It must be strange for you at Ouran."

I listened half-heartedly to Haruhi's reply, but my attention was wandering. The twins were harassing Tamaki – they kept calling him a pervert, but what had set it off I wasn't sure – and all of the other customer's attention was on Haruhi, Mori and Honey. I sighed and watched the Hitachins irritating a flustered Tamaki.

"Pervert, Pervert, Pervert-"

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Pervert, pervert, pervert-"

"NOT A PERVERT!"

"Pervert, pervert, pervert-"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY?"

"Pervert, pervert, pervert-"

"Mommy! Tell these devils that I'm not a pervert!"

"PERVERT, PERVERT, PERVERT!"

At that point Tamaki's protests stopped making sense, and I could literally see the smoke coming out of his ears. I saw Haruhi glance over at the three of them and quickly look away – hoping, I assumed, to avoid drawing attention to himself.

"'Mommy?'" I repeated. Haruhi sent me a look that clearly said,_ don't ask._

"Haruhi!" the blonde spazz screeched, effectively rendering his plan of not being noticed ineffective, "I'm not a pervert, am I?"

"Well, to be honest, you are a little bit of one," Haruhi responded.

Tamaki froze for a split second before hurrying to a corner and curling up into a ball, a proverbial dark aura hanging over him

"Um… Sempai?" Haruhi said.

"Don't worry about him," the twins said. "He always does that. He'll snap out of it."

"Haruhi… thinks I'm… a pervert?" Tamaki whispered to himself.

I bit my lip, trying to decide whether to burst out laughing or to be worried about Tamaki. I nearly chose the first before taking another look at Tamaki's shocked, blank expression.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked of no one on particular.

"He'll be fine," a cool voice said from close behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Kyoya-san!" I exclaimed. Then, more calmly, "Does he do this often?"

Kyoya shrugged. "Occasionally, yes. More often with Haruhi around."

I raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the person in question; however Haruhi was busy fumbling with his textbooks, actively avoiding my nonverbal question. Curiosity nagged at me; why did Tamaki seem to be so attached to Haruhi? I mean, they were both boys, so it couldn't be anything romantic, unless of course they were gay; but neither of them acted like they were, so I discounted the idea. There was no way that their relationship was just a normal friendship, as Tamaki seemed to be more affected by what Haruhi said than the other hosts, and they weren't siblings, so that didn't work either… Unless Haruhi wasn't a boy?

At that moment, a light bulb in the dark recesses of my mind lit up with an almost audible popping sound.

Oh.

_Oh… _

Well, that explains it. Haruhi was… a girl? I looked at him – or her – again, and this time it was easy to see. The large, girly eyes, the pretty face, even her laugh all made sense now. But why was a girl participating in a male host club? I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice Kyoya watching me over the rims of his glasses, a very Kyoya-ish look appearing on his face.

"Hey Haruhi," I said, "Are you… No, never mind." I smiled and refrained from asking. Haruhi smiled uncertainly at me before returning her attention back to the guests.

So, Haruhi was female. To be honest, I was kind of insulted that I hadn't figured it out sooner.

I sat there, quietly mulling over my new information, and didn't bother to respond to the twins when they got tired of bothering their 'king' and turned on me.

"Aw Rin," Hikaru said after yet another attempt to get a response out of me, "You're no fun."

I sent him an icy glare that sent him skittering back a step. "I'm not _trying_ to be fun."

He didn't respond, and Koaru and I shared a quick smirk before Hikaru dragged him off to investigate whatever it was Mori and Honey were doing.

I sighed and watched them go, wishing that I'd been a bit nicer.

"Oh well," I muttered. No one was really paying attention to me, and after the look I'd sent Hikaru none of the other hosts looked likely to come talk to me, so I decided to go home early. "I'm going to head home," I told Haruhi.

"Alright," she said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, maybe," I said.

"Oh, hold up a sec," Haruhi said. I halted my journey to the door, and Haruhi stood and hurried over to me, a tiny white piece of paper in her hand.

"Here," she said, thrusting it to me.

"What is this?" I asked.

"My phone number," she replied.

"Your… what?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"My phone number," she repeated. "You seem kind of down. If you ever need someone to talk to, give me a call."

"Uh…" I stalled. "Thanks." I'd never use it, and to be honest I was a bit insulted by the offer of help, but she was only trying to be nice. I tucked the paper away in my jacket pocket and turned to go. Haruhi returned to her waiting guests, who were currently giving me death glares.

I picked up my book bag and was halfway to the door when Kyoya said, "Off again, Rin?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll probably be back tomorrow."

"Well then, until tomorrow," he said. I nodded and turned away, a certain unease making itself known. I brushed the feeling off and shouldered my bag.

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><p><strong>There, chapter six done. There's action in the next two chapters! Like, excitement! And I don't mean fluff. But I'm not gonna spoil anything. Anyhoo please review, you guys are awesome!<strong>

**Oh, and PS: someone mentioned in a review that they thought I might've possibly abandoned this story. Now, I may get writer's block and not update for months, but I will not abandon a story I have started, I promise. I've finished the other big story I'm working on, so now this one gets top priority. I'll finish it if it kills me! **

**Anyways. Love you all and please review if you enjoyed this at all (even a little tiny bit). Thank you!**


	7. Danger in the Dojo

**Hello my wonderful readers, I hope you are all doing well. I want to personally thank my reviewer from last chapter, Miz Shoelaces; you made my day, so thank you. And, just as a side note, I was wondering... are any of my old readers still with me? Because I got a single review last chapter, and the one before that, so I was worried that maybe I've lost some support? I'd hate to alienate any of my readers (if I still have some?) but I'd really love to know if you guys are still reading... anyways, on with the story. **

**Last chapter recap: Rin's feelings concerning the host club are running away with her, but despite her better judgment she visits the host club again the next day at school. Things are awkward and yet strangely smooth between her and Kyoya, and her emotions are starting to make her nervous.**

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><p><em>I picked up my book bag and was halfway to the door when Kyoya said, "Off again, Rin?" <em>

"_Yeah," I said. "I'll probably be back tomorrow."_

"_Well then, until tomorrow," he said. I nodded and turned away, a certain unease making itself known.__I brushed the feeling off and shouldered my bag. _

Once outside the school, I made my way out of the large entranceway and started walking to the curb where my ride was waiting – or at least, where my ride should have been waiting. I stopped in the middle of the pathway, halfway between the road and the school, and bit back an expletive.

"What?" I muttered as I gazed at the empty spot where the black limo should have been and that was conspicuously empty. "Wonderful," I said sarcastically. I sighed and glanced at my watch – 4:30. I reached over and checked my pocket for my cell phone, but as usual, it wasn't there. I just couldn't seem to get into the habit of carrying it around with me; it was probably lying on my dresser at home where I'd left it the last time I'd used it. I groaned and kept walking to the curb, unconsciously finishing the short trip. _I could always get home on foot_, I thought. I knew I could probably borrow one of the host's phones, but the idea of running was appealing; I hadn't run that day so I had a lot of pent-up energy, and my house couldn't have been more than a half-hour away. With a small smile I adjusted my bag and leapt into a run down the sidewalk. I didn't think about the fact that it was getting dark, or that I'd never really paid attention as to the route back – I had always been driven to and from school.

Fifteen minutes later I slowed my all-out sprint to an upbeat jog and held the new speed steady. I slid my jacket off without stopping and tied it around my waist. The cool evening breeze felt nice against my skin, and the rush of wind on my face made me smile.

Ten minutes after that, I slowed to a walk and gazed at the surrounding houses. They looked somewhat familiar, but I had to admit that I wasn't one hundred percent sure of where I was.

_Well, that's ok_, I thought. _I can always go back to the school if this isn't the way._ I kept walking, and soon the houses started to get more crowded. I started to see people on the sidewalk where there hadn't been any before, and realised that I must have been heading downtown.

"Well, that's definitely not where my house is," I said aloud. We lived on the outskirts, which meant that it had to be in the opposite direction. Without hesitation I turned and took another street that headed back in the general direction of home.

Another ten minutes went by, and I had to admit that I was lost. Not _lost_ lost, just sort of lost. I vaguely recalled my surroundings from driving though them to the dojo, but I wasn't familiar enough with it to find my way back. I wasn't _that_ lost, I insisted. Just a little bit lost. _I could probably find my way to the dojo from here… _With that thought, I decided I would try to find my way there in hopes that my sensei or a fellow student would still be hanging around.

I sped up again, feeling the desire for more speed. It took me a while, but I ended up panting on the steps of the dojo about a half-hour later. I gave a rare grin and ran my fingers through my tossed hair in an effort to calm the tangles.

I took the three steps in one bound and came to a stop just outside the door. I knocked, and when no one answered, I pushed. The door swung open and I stepped inside.

"Hello?" I called. "Sensei? Kana-san?" Kana was one of the most frequent students at the dojo; if anyone had stayed late, it was him. He was quiet, so I didn't talk to him much, but he seemed nice enough.

There was no sound from within the building, so I walked further in, by habit slipping my shoes off and leaving them by the door.

_At least I can use the phone while I'm here to call a ride_, I thought. I strolled further in and slid open the wood and glass sliding door that led to the main practice area. I stepped in and closed the door behind me. The room was large and very old-fashioned Japanese, and the floor was covered by a thin spongy layer. On the other side of the room lay sensei's office. The little room was dark, and the only light came from the fading sun shining through the glass windows – it was almost night. I crossed the room in a few steps and opened the door to the office, switching the light on as I went. The office was tidy as usual, and the phone sat upon a neatly organized desk in the corner.

I picked it up and was halfway through dialling when I heard a thud from outside. I put the receiver down and went to the door.

"Hello?" I called. No one responded, but I knew that I'd heard something. I reached behind me and flicked the light off, aware of how the light shining from behind me made my position very clear to anyone outside the small room, while effectively blinding me. My eyes adjusted to the new darkness quickly, and I searched the area with trained eyes but found nothing. I knew I was probably overreacting, but Sensei Don had taught me to always be on guard. I stayed half crouching behind the study door for a full two minutes, listening carefully and making an effort to keep my breathing silent. I had always had a very good sense of hearing – if there was anyone else here, I would hear them before I saw them. Just as I was about to straighten and come out of the study, a shuffling noise in the entranceway caught my attention. It was very faint, and reminiscent of somebody shifting after spending a long time in a certain position. Another thud, louder than before but still very quiet, reached my ears, and I corrected myself. Not someone. Someone_s_.

I hissed silently and drew back into the small room. I considered shutting the door, but the hinged would probably creak if I moved it, and whoever was out there obviously didn't know I was there, otherwise they wouldn't be making such a racket.

I scooted back carefully in the darkness and picked up the phone again. I began dialling my home number, but then stopped. No. Ami and Kaito were still out, and the staff wouldn't be able to do anything helpful. I deliberated for a moment, before I remembered that I had Haruhi's number in my pocket. I whipped it out, keeping an eye on the door, and used the small green light from the phone to read the digits on the paper. I dialled the number in record time. It rang twice before Haruhi picked up.

"Hello?" she said, and I winced at how loud the sound was.

"Hi," I whispered as I turned down the volume.

"Rin?" she said in surprise.

"Yeah," I breathed. "Listen, can you do me a favour?"

"I – sure," Haruhi hesitated. "Why are you whispering?"

"I'm at the local dojo, the one closest to the school. I was alone here, but I think there's somebody else here. Can you get a car to pick me up or something? I'll pay you back later."

"Um… Just a minute." Haruhi said something to somebody else, and then returned. "Tamaki-sempai is going to send a car," she said.

"Great, thanks. And, um…"

"What is it?" she asked. "Rin-sempai, you're not in any danger, are you?"

I was silent for just long enough to unintentionally answer her question. Haruhi began to ask a question but was cut off by someone on her end. Unintelligible voices issued from the little devise before Kyoya's smooth voice sounded.

"Rin-san, where are you?" he asked.

"At the dojo near the school," I repeated. I didn't have time to ask why he was suddenly interested. I mean, it wasn't like I was in any real danger.

"Do you want me to send in my family's private police force?" he asked.

"What? Um, no thank you, Kyoya-san." They had a private police force? And he'd send them in for _me_? This just got weirder and weirder.

"What exactly is going on?" Kyoya inquired.

"I'm not positive," I responded quietly. "It's more of a bad feeling than anything concrete –"

I broke off with a sharp yelp as a fist suddenly slammed into my stomach. I gasped in surprise and twisted so that when I landed, I fell on my side, not my back. I scrambled to my feet and fell into the traditional defence pose of the Karate masters, but unable to see my attacker, it would be nearly impossible to fight back.

Realising this, I didn't wait for the next attack; I dived far and low to avoid any other oncoming blows and rolled, coming up near the door on the other side of my opponent. I flipped the light on with a quick swipe of my hand and looked for the other person in the room, my stomach sending pain signals to my brain.

Standing where I'd left him was a man who appeared to be about thirty-five or so. He had shoulder-length brown hair which fell into his eyes, and he was a few inches taller than me. He was rather ordinary in appearance – no distinguishing characteristics except perhaps the small blue band of tattoos that wound around his neck. There seemed to be a row of interconnected crosses stitched into the skin around his throat, creating the appearance of a blue necklace.

I glared at him and snarled low in my throat.

"Ooh," he smirked. "So intimidating." His eyes flickered past me, and a second too late I realised that there was someone behind me. I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye before I was airborne again, this time flying sideways from the kick that had caught my right forearm. The air whizzed past me and the ground rose up to greet me, but before I could fall I twisted and managed to get my feet under me. I landed upright and sprang away from the two, propelling myself as far away as I could in one leap. My feet came down onto the spongy floor of the main training room and spun around. My new attacker was also male, with a thin, shallow face and dark, greasy hair. He was thinner and taller than the first intruder, and had on a black leather jacket not unlike my own. I gave them my basilisk glare and was rewarded with the fading of their identical sneers.

"Who are you?" I asked loudly.

"Why do you want to know?" the greasy-haired man replied. His voice sent shudders up my back; it was freezing cold, like a glacier – even Kyoya's cold tone didn't compare.

"I think I have the right to know who the two creeps invading my dojo are," I replied while edging to the right, towards the door. The second man had backed up so that he was between the exit and me, while the other man remained by the office door. As always during a fight my senses felt amplified; everything was much clearer than it had been, and my body felt like it was in the process of being slowly electrified. My hearing was magnified as well – where before I could have heard the slightest movement from the other room, now I could hear everything, right down to the shifting of the men's feet on the floor and the breath hissing in and out of their lungs. Without knowing it I had slid into my natural aggressive crouch, and my hands were clenched into fists.

I noticed suddenly that the first man, the one with the blue tattoos, was carrying a large rucksack in his hands, which looked like it was full of stuff. I could see the hilt of the Kanata that usually hung on display in the front end of the dojo protruding from the top.

"Stealing things?" I asked coolly. "You know, I'm not sure, but I think that's a criminal offence." The black-haired man's eyes narrowed.

"Shut up, you -" I didn't let him finish the sentence. I lunged in a classic Karate move and sent a sharp punch into his nose. I let out a quick, vicious kiai as my first connected with bone. He had no time to react – he caved under the pressure, blood spurting from his nose. I sensed movement behind me and whirled away from the first man, still falling. The brown-haired man jumped at me and I moved to the side, barely avoiding his attack. Only a few second in to the fight, I could tell that neither of these men had any training in martial arts.

_This will be easy. Still, just in case… _

"Kyoya!" I screeched, hoping that he hadn't hung up the phone. "You can send in those police officers now!"

With that I pushed all irrelevant thoughts out of my mind and focused all my attention on my two opponents. Greasy-dude was climbing to his feet cursing, and brown-dude was still regaining his balance after missing me with his lunge. I backed away and moved so that I was facing them both at the same time and the wall was to my back. I didn't wait for either of them to recover; I attacked before they could.

They didn't even see what hit them. My fist hit the shorter of the two off-guard, sending him to the floor with a grunt. The other was more trouble. He saw me coming and caught my arm before my first could connect with his face. I twisted and pulled, but he hung on. I yowled and jabbed upward with my knee, catching him right between the legs. He grunted and let go, and I backed away. I could stay and make sure they didn't get away, but to be honest the little encounter had shaken me up a bit. I just wanted to get away from the two of them.

Seeing that they were both momentarily down, I turned and left the large room. I shut the door behind me and went to slide the lock into place before remembering that sensei had had it removed.

_Darn. _

I hurried, not quite running, to the front door of the dojo. I pushed it open and slid outside, the chilly night air washing over my skin. I checked my watch briefly and was shocked to see how late it was – Ami was going to be very angry. I glanced around and then hurried away from the building into the middle of the street. Then I made a beeline for the shadows at the edge of the pools of light created by the street lamps as I heard loud cussing and foul language growing closer from inside the dojo.

The door flew open and Greasy and Brown-head came out, both nursing their various injuries.

"Gah!" spat the black-haired man. "What was that? Who was that _baka_?"

"How should I know?" the other man snapped back, still carrying the rucksack. "Quite being stupid."

"Who are _you_ calling stupid?" the black-haired man roared.

"You, that's who!" the other man yelled back.

I smirked and was about to slip away when the two abruptly stopped their bickering.

"Hey Kosono," the brown-haired man said, "Did Yasuma tell you when she was going to come tonight?"

"No," the greasy-haired man, Kosono, replied. "All she said was that she was going to help out pulling this off."

"Late again, as usual," the other griped.

I tensed in the shadows, a cold feeling sinking into my stomach.

They had a partner… Which meant that that partner had probably been watching the entrance. And if that partner had been watching the entrance, they would have seen me come out. And if the woman, Yasuma, had seen me come out, then she was probably…

I whirled, feeling another presence close to mine in the dark, but I didn't get very far. A sharp blow caught me across the cheek, followed by a jab to the gut. I doubled over but managed to lash out in return; my hand connected with something warm and soft before a cold metal circle was pressed into my forehead. I froze, real fear trickling into me for the first time that night as I realised what it was.

"Move and your brains are all over the sidewalk," a feminine voice snarled.

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><p><strong>I feel kind of bad leaving it there…. But then again, maybe a cliffhanger will get me some reviews. No fluff this week, sorry. My stories tend to take a bit longer to get to the romantic parts because I have to get plot issues out of the way first. Anyhoo, please review? *shakes empty can* are you guys still reading? Please let me know! Encouragment makes my fingers move! Love you all and thank you so much for reviewing, or if you've read it this far but haven't reviewed yet, now is a great time :)<strong>


	8. Dancing the Border

***Creeps out from behind corner holding white flag* ... I'm back? Sorry it took so long, life got in the way. I moved out last weekend. Anyway, here's the chappy, hope it measures up.**

**A thousand thanks to;**

**Aurea-Rosa**

**Moka-girl**

**Bored411**

**xGrellSutcliffx**

**Miz Shoelaces**

**loves2readandwrite**

**AuthorChick96**

**HeavyMetalRose**

**Magic4ever**

**And two anonomous reviewer.**

**Thank you all, you guys are amazing. Hontoni arigatou!**

**Recap:** **Rin tries to walk home from school when her limo fails to show up. She gets lost, goes to the dojo, two creeps are inside stealing things. She calls Haruhi and ends up fighting the two criminals, before running outside. There, she encounters another, more serious, problem.**

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><p>I whirled, feeling another presence close to mine in the dark alley, but I didn't get very far. A sharp blow caught me across the cheek, followed by a jab to the gut. I doubled over but managed to lash out in return; my hand connected with something warm and soft before a cold metal circle was pressed into my forehead. I froze, real fear trickling into me for the first time that night as I realised what it was.<p>

"Move and your brains are all over the sidewalk," a feminine voice snarled. I squinted in the dark, unable to see clearly. The woman – Yasuma, I presumed, from the other two's conversation – kept the gun to my head and spoke in a low, clear voice.

"Kosono. Chiko. I think I've found your _baka_."

"Yasuma!" one of the two exclaimed. "We thought you'd left us here."

"You never can tell," the woman growled. "One day I might. Turn around," she snapped at me.

"No," I growled, my instinctive reaction to orders. Yasuma casually backhanded me, and I felt blood beginning to trickle from my lip as pain radiated from my face.

"Turn," she said in menacing tones.

"Go to hell, I replied evenly. Yasuma didn't speak again, and I wondered briefly if I would even realise that she had fired before I was dead.

_I must be suicidal. Oh wait, I already knew that._

"You do realise that I can shoot you, ne?" she inquired. "You should really listen." I smirked into the darkness, the expression coming more easily than you would expect with a gun to my head. I'd always danced the border between life and death – hell, I didn't care how this went, and my family certainly didn't, so the only one who gave a crap if I lived or died was myself. And I did not care as much as I should. A flash of yellow and black hair appeared briefly in my mind, but I pushed it away.

"I have nothing to lose," I said.

"Oh, really?" she asked, a smile in her voice. I heard rather than saw her two cohorts come up behind us.

"Really," I hissed back.

"And who are you, may I ask?" the woman with the gun asked. I debated for a split second before responding with a question of my own.

"Have you heard of the Amaya Firm, working in collaboration with the Otori Group?"

"I believe so," Yasuma replied.

"Do you know who the heir is?"

"No, just some girl…" I was silent after that, and I head Yasuma's sharp intake of breath as she put two and two together. "It's you," she said, and her new tone sent shudders down my spine. Suddenly I wasn't sure that telling her to prevent her from shooting me had been the best idea. "Kosono, Chicko," Yasuma snapped. "We're taking her with us."

"What? Why?" Kosono whined.

"Because she's the heir to a multi-billion dollar company," Yasuma snapped. "We've struck gold this time, boys. Imagine the money we can get out of this one! Her parents will pay a fortune to get her back."

I laughed. "Dream on. My parents hate me."

"Oh?"

"If you shot me here and now you'd be doing them a favour."

"Nevertheless," the cold, female voice said. "I think we'll give taking you for ransom a try."

Yasuma shifted the gun slightly, and I made my move. No _way _was I being taken anywhere. My hand came up and across the weapon in a strong crosscut; the gun not only lost its aim on my forehead, but flew from Yasuma's hand and skidded to a stop ten meters away in the middle of the street. The gun let off a single shot as it flew, the report echoing through the deserted street, and the bullet shattered a window of one of the surrounding buildings.

With no further delay, I went on the offensive. Before in the dojo, I'd been caught off-guard. This time, I knew exactly where my opponents were and what they were capable of. Plus, they'd pissed me off. That always gave me an edge.

My elbow caught Yasuma in the stomach, and she doubled over with a curse. I whirled and met Kosono's fist with my own in a head on collision of blows. I gasped, the force sending shock waves up my arm and into my shoulder, but lashed out with my other arm without hesitation. I put all my strength and every minute of training behind the blow; my knife-hand caught him straight on the back of the neck and he fell to the ground, dazed or unconscious.

_Now for the other one. _

Chiko bellowed and ran at me. I moved to the side, effectively dodging his primitive attack, and as he passed I lent a crushing karate chop to the back of his skull. He dropped like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

I stood still for another few seconds, blood still boiling and breath coming in short gasps. I hissed unhappily at how quickly my opposition had gone down; they were no challenge at all. I _lived _for challenges, for the thrill of a fight and the surge of adrenaline that comes with struggle. This was almost… disappointing.

My eyes felt strange, oversensitive somehow, and I knew that the stress of the fight plus the non-existent lighting had probably caused my pupils to dilute further than was healthy. I sighed and moved again, shaking my tousled hair out of my eyes. The blood-red streaks were the only thing properly visible in the dim lighting.

The movement of an object though air whispered softly behind me and I ducked, reflexively avoiding whatever was coming my way. Something whistled towards me at high speeds, missing my head by inches and grazing my cheek. I snarled as a slicing sensation issued from where the object had touched me, and realised that it must be a knife.

_I should have known. _

Yasuma had gained her feet again and was coming at me again. A surge of aggressive energy rushed through me, and almost without my knowledge the corner of my lips curved upward in a humourless but happy smile.

"You *****!" she snarled.

That did not seem to call for a response, so I did not make one.

She shrieked and lunged at me, the knife glinting in her hand. I waited, letting her get close. Then, when she was almost on me, I spun halfway and jumped as high as I could, lashing out and landing a shattering blow in the form of a high kick. My leg made contact with something, and my foot made headway. I wasn't sure what I'd hit because of the darkness, but Yasuma went down with a strangled gurgle.

_Hold on. A strangled gurgle? _I hesitated when she didn't move again. _What if I caught her in the throat? Because if I did… She could be dead. There was enough force behind that kick to break a bone, let alone crush a windpipe or snap a neck._

Now, I'd never killed before. I knew how, but I'd never had need of it, and I certainly hoped that Yasuma was not seriously hurt, even if she _was _a criminal. I wanted to fight her, not kill her.

"Yasuma?" I hissed, and immediately felt foolish. Of course she wouldn't answer me, even if she wasn't hurt. I couldn't see where she'd gone properly – the kick had sent her backwards a ways, and the light really was bad – so when I crept forward, I did so cautiously. I looked for her, either unconscious on the ground or waiting to attack again, but found nothing.

_Oh well. Maybe she ran. _

I was just turning away when a sharp pain in my right leg made itself known, and I gasped. I glanced down and then, unable to see anything, reached down and felt my lower leg. My fingers encounter warm, wet liquid, and renewed pain lanced through me at the contact.

"Oh, crap," I muttered. "She must have got me with her knife when I kicked her." I felt the knife wound carefully; it didn't seem too deep, but it was bleeding rather profusely, and the slash was quite long – almost the entire length of my leg below the knee. I hissed as a sudden surge of dizziness swept over me, catching me off guard. I swayed but did not fall and leaned against the nearby building for support. I knew that if I did not stop the bleeding soon, I was likely to faint from blood loss.

"Otori Private Police Force, where are you when I need you?" I wondered aloud.

As if on cue, four cars suddenly sped into view. Three were military-grade vehicles, and the fourth was a sleek black sedan. They skidded to a stop on the road by the front of the dojo and the doors flew open to reveal what I could only assume was the Otori Private Police Force. Men in black uniforms carrying numerous types of weapons poured out of the stopped cars and headed cautiously for the open door of the building, almost directly across the street from me.

The fourth car's doors opened, and my eyes widened in surprise as Honey and Mori stepped out, closely followed by Tamaki. Hikaru and Kaoru followed, identical mixtures of worry and excitement on their faces. Last out of the sedan was Kyoya. His hair was a bit tussled, but other than that he was his usual expressionless self. I waited for Haruhi to appear, but she didn't seem to be there. From the way I'd seen Tamaki act around her, my guess was that he freaked out and wouldn't let her come to a crime scene.

_They came?_ I thought in disbelief. _Idiots. For all they know things are still dangerous. _

The soldiers were still making their way up to the front of the dojo military-style, so I decided that I'd tell them that everything was fine.

"Hey," one of them called quietly. "Amaya-sama? Are you alright?"

"Fine," I replied from directly behind him. "Although I can't say the same for those creeps."

"Rin!" Tamaki exclaimed, peering into the shadows that surrounded me. "Is that you? Are you okay? We were so worried!"

I was quiet, shocked into silence for a moment as I absorbed this. Someone was worried about _me_?

One of the officers pulled out a huge flashlight and flicked it on, shining it in my direction. A muffled gasp of surprise rose from the group as a whole as the light fell on me, and briefly I wondered what the scene must look like to them. Two unconscious enemies, a blood-covered knife lying at my feet, crimson liquid pooling beneath me and a gun glinting coldly at the edge of the island of light. My fists were still clenched, and I hadn't completely straightened from my offensive stance. Excluding Mori and Kyoya, the host's faces were all blank with shock, and briefly I wondered what they were thinking. Honey seemed to be particularly serious, much more so than I had expected from the boyish Lolita.

"Are you hurt?" a soldier asked as their eyes catalogued the weapons on the scene. Kyoya started making his way towards me, and as if that was their cue the rest of the hosts drew nearer as well.

"No, I'm okay," I say reflexively before remembering about my leg. _Actually…_

"Rin," Kyoya said sternly, sensing my hesitation. "If you're hurt you need to tell us."

"It's my leg," I confessed. "It's not bad, but someone got me with the knife when I kicked her."

"Someone WHAT?" Tamaki spazzed.

"Uug…" I groaned as he went off on one of his rants about how people shouldn't run around with knives because it was dangerous. "Why did I even say anything? I can probably just wrap it up at home, it's fine."

A sharp pain in my leg made me yelp.

"I believe it is not 'fine', Rin-san," Kyoya's voice said from the general direction of the throbbing cut. I'd been so occupied watching Tamaki that I hadn't noticed him bend down to look at it.

"Hey!" I said, moving away and turning so my leg was angled away from him. "If I say it's fine then it's fine."

"On the contrary," Kyoya said, rising. "It's quite a nasty cut, and the bleeding is rather serious. You should have it looked at." I wasn't sure if it was just the dim light, but the Otori boy's face seemed almost worried, his movements tense.

I narrowed my eyes at him, my natural desire to shrug my injury off warring with the increasing pain in my leg and the pounding feeling that was beginning in my head.

"C'mon, Rin-chan," Honey said more somberly than usual. "Even the best fighters get hurt sometimes. You should let a doctor look at it." Mori nodded in agreement.

I glared at the pair of them before I swayed again, unwillingly throwing out a hand to steady myself against the nearby building.

"Hitachins, fetch the medic," Tamaki ordered.

"You guys brought a _medic_?"

"Of course," Kyoya replied. "It only makes sense to be prepared, and there are any number of doctors that are available to us."

"Why do I even bother asking?" I wondered aloud.

A few moments later Hikaru and Kaoru arrived back with a man in a white lab coat in tow. I glanced away and shuddered in discomfort – I hated attention, and I hated medics even more.

"Right now, let's see," the doctor said without preamble.

I glared, and only moved when the twins and Tamaki threatened to forcibly restrain me.

"Alright, fine," I said in defeat.

"Why don't you come back to the hospital and I can look at that properly?" the doctor asked. I had started protesting before he was fully finished speaking.

"No! Come on, can't you do it here? I'd really rather not have it looked at in the first place; I can hardly feel it anymore."

To demonstrate my point I took a step forward.

_Ow. _

"See? It doesn't hurt."

I could tell nobody was fooled.

"Rin," Mori said quietly, a soft warning in his tone. _He does talk! _I thought randomly.

"Rrg," I growled. "Yes, fine, okay, whatever. Now just look at it already."

I ignored it as best I could ass the doctor cut away a portion of my lower pant leg and cleaned the cut before wrapping it in white gauze.

"I should really give you some stitches," he said, and then quickly continued at the look on my face, "But they may not be necessary. Just try to keep your weight off it for a while. Now for that cut on your cheek."

"My cheek?" I repeated before remembering the thin slice caused by Yasuma's initial attack. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

I gritted my teeth as the doctor repeated the process of cleaning it. Honestly, I could understand tending to the more serious injury, but the cut along my cheekbone was so minor I was surprised he'd even noticed it. It might scar, he told me, but at the moment I couldn't care less.

"Can I go now?" I asked when he finished up the examination with a swab for my bleeding lip. "No, never mind, I'm not asking," I cut him off before he could respond. "That was supposed to be a statement: I'm leaving now. Goodnight, everybody."

I turned and, ignoring the throbbing in my leg, stalked a few steps away before I remembered that I didn't know how to get home from there.

"Alright," I said wearily as I turned back to the host club, "Who's taking me home?"

Tamaki and the twins exchanged glances before blondie opened his mouth to offer, but before he could a smooth, cool voice cut him off.

"I'll take her, Tamaki," Kyoya said. "Her house is closest to mine."

_What? Oh no… Why am I pleased? The thought of riding home alone with Kyoya-san in a limo should not make me happy. _

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a trademark smirk cross the twin's faces, and for some reason it made me more nervous than the burglars in the dojo had.

"Okay, thanks," I said. Kyoya nodded to me and pulled out his phone, proceeding to call a car. I recalled that the hosts had all arrived in the same vehicle.

"How did you end up here, anyway?" Honey asked me. "This is pretty far away from the school."

"Well, my car wasn't there to pick me up so I thought I'd walk home," I explained. "I accidentally ended up getting lost. I train at this dojo, so when I realised that I was close to it I walked here. I thought I'd use sensei's phone."

"You train here?" Mori asked, and I missed a beat in surprise that he was speaking again. Like, with more than monosyllables. I noted the startled glances the other hosts gave him, excluding Kyoya who was still on the phone, and realised that even three words must be really rare for the tall, silent type.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I've trained here for years."

Honey and Mori exchanged a small glance, so minuscule that I almost missed it.

_What was that about? _I wondered.

"Anyway," I continued, "once I got here I called Haruhi, and you know the rest."

"Most of it," the twins corrected. "What happened when the call cut out?"

"Well, when did the call cut out?"

"Right after you mentioned sending in the police force," Kaoru said.

"You were saying something about stealing being a criminal offence," Hikaru added. A quick smirk crossed my lips as I remembered the look on Kosono's face.

"Oh yeah. Well, there's really not much to tell. There were two guys in there stealing things, and when they found me they attacked me. We knocked each other around a bit and then I came out here. Turns out they had a partner waiting outside."

Tamaki and the twins were listening with rapt attention, and I smiled at the childish mixture of interest and terror on Tamaki's face.

"What happened?" asked Honey.

"Well…" I said. I was about to launch into my story, but a sudden surge of dizziness nearly knocked me off my feet.

"We can discuss this in more detail at a later date," Kyoya interjected. "Rin-san needs to head home."

For once, I did not protest. My leg didn't even hurt anymore – it was completely numb, and my vision had started to go sort of foggy.

"I think you're right," I said. I wasn't sure when it had arrived, but another car had pulled up beside the others at some point during our conversation, and it was to this car that Kyoya led me. I could see his hand on my arm, supporting me, but I couldn't feel the contact of it properly.

_Pity, that. _

…

_Wait, what? _

I let my errant thought slide for the moment and concentrated on keeping my balance. I think Kyoya sensed my wobbliness, because he stayed a bit closer than was necessary. He opened the car door and we both slid into the interior. Once I took the weight off my leg and we stopped moving, my vision cleared up a bit, and my thoughts were suddenly much sharper than they had been a moment before.

Then, I realized that it was just Kyoya and I, alone in the limo, for the thirty minute drive to my house. _Why does the air suddenly seem stuffier? _I wondered as I observed Kyoya sitting directly accross from me, glasses glinting eerily. A shudder ran down my spine. _T__his should be interesting. _

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><p><strong>And there you go, a little action for you. Also, next time: Kyoya and Rin, sitting all alone... what will happen? Well, either intense crap, fluff, intense fluff, or nothing. So tell me what you want to see and I'll see what I can do. <strong>

**Thanks a ton to my reviewers, you guys are one of the few bright spots in my life right now. You help me keep going :) **

**And as always, reviews make my fingers move. So please review :) Thanks for reading! **


	9. Encounters

**Hello all! First of all, I want to thank my friend Quin for lending me a hand with this chapter and reading it through. Your writing style seems to be rubbing off on me. Thank you, you're awesome :) **

**Also, many many thanks to last chapters reviewers:**

**Miz Shoelaces**

**TheCrimsonKiss**

**Quinhwyvar**

**Bored411**

**Loves2readandwrite**

**You guys are the only thing that keeps me at this, and your support means the world to me. Thank you!**

* * *

><p>Kyoya opened the car door and we both slid into the interior. Once I took the weight off my leg and we stopped moving, my vision cleared up a bit, and my thoughts were suddenly much sharper than they had been a moment before.<p>

"To the Amaya estate, please," Kyoya told the driver. We pulled away from the dojo and the other club members, who I saw were all piling back into the car they'd arrived in, leaving the police force to deal with the legal and technical issues. Just before ducking inside, the Hitachin brothers twisted around to look after Kyoya and I with mirror smirks on their faces. Then our car turned a corner and I lost sight of them.

I wondered briefly what they were up to. I glanced across the dark interior of the car at the Shadow King, but he wasn't looking at me, so I didn't say anything. A sudden onset of nervousness attacked me, along with the realisation that I was alone in a car with the more attractive man I'd ever seen.

"Rin," Kyoya said suddenly, "Are you sure you're alright? You seem a bit quieter than usual."

"Who, me?" I asked. Then I winced. _Who else, idiot?_ "Of course, I'm always alright." I gave my customary reply and signature smirk to prove my point, but it faltered, and suddenly I felt a strange quivering somewhere deep inside my body.

"You don't look alright," Kyoya said. "You look like you're about to be sick. And you're shivering."

"Am I?" I said. I looked down at my arms and was surprised to see them not only shaking like leaves, but wrapped around my torso, which was also shivering. _Now when did that happen? _I wondered.

"You're probably going into shock," Kyoya said.

"Me, go into shock?" I said between teeth clenched to keep that from chattering. "That's ridiculous, and this cut is hardly serious enough to warrant it. I've never gone into shock, I've dealt with similar things before, it's not like it's _that_ traumatising." Man, now I _knew _I was a wuss, going into shock from a little cut like that.

"It's not the cut," Kyoya replied as he reached below the seat and pulled out a blanket and a small box, which opened to reveal a needle. "Not many teenage girls can handle being attacked by two grown men without some kind of mental effect. Not to mention, their accomplice had a gun; you could have easily died." It could have been my imagination, but his tone seemed sharper than usual, as if the possibilities he was discussing angered him in some way. I began to protest, but he cut me off. "It's completely understandable. Actually, I'm surprised it took you this long to start shaking."

"You – expected this – to happen?" I said between shudders.

"Hmm," he replied as he scooted over to me and handed me the blanket.

"Thanks."

"I'm going to inject you with some painkillers."

"Okay."

I didn't even notice when the needle bit into my arm, and when he was done I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. Or at least, I tried to; my hands shook so badly that Kyoya had to reach around me and pulled the blanket closer for me, putting our bodies much closer together than I would have liked. He basically had his arm wrapped around my shoulders, with our sides touching, but he moved away before it could get any more awkward than it already was. At the loss of contact my body immediately began shaking more violently, and my cheeks tinted slightly pink in embarrassment. He sent me a look but moved back again, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I tried not to move, but he was so warm and I was so cold, I ended up huddling against him anyway.

"The best thing to do now is to keep you warm," Kyoya stated, ignoring the awkwardness of the situation. "I'd suggest a bath or shower when you get home, and then bed. You need a good night's sleep after this."

I nodded and turned my face slightly away so he wouldn't see how freaked out I was. Silence fell, and soon my shivering began to subside as the painkillers took effect. I firmly told myself that Kyoya's form pressed up against mine had _nothing _to do with it.

We sat in a tense silence, my body stiff as a board. Technically, I knew I should be enjoying the way Kyoya's body felt brushing mine, that I should be elated that he was _so _close but somehow all the position brought was an unpleasant sinking in my stomach.

"Hey, Kyoya?" I said, remembering a point of curiosity I'd wanted to ask him about.

"Yes?"

"Why did you lie to the others about our houses being close together?"

"What?"

"When you offered to give me a ride home," I said, "you told the others that your house was closest to mine, but it isn't. I know where the Otori mansion is, and it's nowhere near the Amaya estate. So why?"

The brief widening of Kyoya's ash-grey eyes was the only sign that he was surprised.

"It only made sense," he said after a moment of obvious scrambling for a reason. "I wouldn't trust Tamaki or the twins to get you home in one piece, and the Haninozuke and Morinozuka estates are both on the opposite end of town. Even though the Suo and Hitachin manners may be closer, I felt it would be best if I brought you home."

"I see," I said. Kyoya looked away, and I saw something more flash behind those inscrutable grey eyes before they were hidden.

_Was that the only reason? _I sighed and brushed it off. _I'm too tired to deal with that right now. _

Silence fell in the vehicle, but it wasn't an awkward silence this time. I had relaxed almost unconsciously into Kyoya's hold, and I had the sudden urge to lay my head on his shoulder. I had almost completely stopped shivering by that point, and the pain in my leg had dulled to a deep throbbing. My cheek was numb, probably due to the cream that the doctor had administered – to try and keep it from scarring, he'd said, even though it probably would anyway. I sighed sadly at the thought of arriving back home, earning a questioning look from Kyoya.

"Just imagining my parent's reactions," I told him wryly. "Should be fun."

"Why?" he inquired. "I should think they would be glad you're safe."

I almost laughed in his face before I swallowed it. "They're… not like that," I told him. "Like I told that woman back there, my parents hate me. Not like I care." The last part came out more bitter-sounding than I had intended, and I bit my tongue. _Crap. Why can't I keep my mouth shut around this guy? _

"Why would your parents hate you?" Kyoya inquired coolly, sounding totally uninterested in the answer. Still, I pondered, why would he ask if he didn't want to know the answer?

I paused before I replied, choosing my words carefully. "… My parents never wanted kids, so when I came along, they were, well… _disappointed_. They've never changed their minds about children, even though they have one now."

Kyoya didn't say anything to that, but he shifted closer, seemingly unknowingly. I turned to look at him fully, and was surprised to see the smallest hint of a frown on his face, just a thin line creasing the skin between his eyes. I'd never seen any kind of emotion on his face at all, least of all a frown, so I was a little surprised. Still, I discounted it as my imagination when the expression disappeared a millisecond later. Almost without my mind's permission, my mouth kept talking.

"I mean, it's not like I want their affection or love, I've never been into that. But…" here I paused. "It would be nice if they didn't hate my existence."

Kyoya didn't reply to that, simply sending me a long, calculating look. I wished I could tell what he was thinking.

The next few minutes passed in silence, and at some point without my knowledge, I drifted off to sleep, my head unknowingly leaning against the young Otori's shoulder.

I woke in Kyoya's arms. We were walking up the pathway to my house, his grey eyes unusually soft and a gentle smile – and actual, genuine _smile _– just fading from his face. My black eyes snapped open, then widened.

"AAAAHHH!" I screeched in shock. I had to give Kyoya and his nerves of steel some credit – he didn't drop me, or even stop walking. He simply looked a bit startled.

"You're awake," he said, stating the obvious. I noticed that one of my arms was slung around his neck, and his arms were wrapped firmly around my shoulders and legs. I'd had more bodily contact with this man in the past half-hour than I'd ever had with any guy in my entire life.

"AAAAHH!" This time he stopped walking, but he still didn't let go.

"Would you mind stopping that noise?" he said with a chilly smirk. "It's rather loud."

I stared up at him, at loss for words or coherent thought, before screeching again. This time, however, the senseless noise transformed into words.

"PUT ME DOWN!"

"I don't think you want me to do that. The doctor said you should stay off your feet for at least a day."

I didn't respond to that, instead choosing to attempt – and I say _attempt _- a leap out of his arms. I failed for two reasons. The first was that I miscalculated how dizzy sudden movement would make me, and the second was that Kyoya seemed to be expecting it and tightened his hold just before I moved. The end result was somewhere between a twitch and a convulsion. I hissed weakly at him but held still, allowing the waves of dizziness to fade as I glared at him. I didn't like the way our position made me feel, how the contact of his skin on mine made me want to melt into him. It was foreign, alien; and altogether _too _pleasant. It was like how it was in the limo – with movement added. I gulped as his left hand brushed the bare skin of my left arm unintentionally, causing goose bumps to form on the pale skin.

"Kyoya Otori, put me down this instant."

"Your leg-"

"Forget the leg! Let me go!"

"But if you tear the muscle any further, I will have to take you to the hospital for stiches. And you don't want that."

"Stitches look like little teeth marks, have you ever noticed?"

Kyoya deadpanned. "Pardon?"

"… I have a sudden craving for chocolate."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"No. I think that shot you gave me is messing with my head."

"Evidently."

"I like dragons, did you know?"

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"

"Yes! No! Can I have chocolate? Wait, what?"

"Hospital. You."

"NO! I just need... something coffee-like. Although considering how I'm acting now, sugar and caffeine may not be a good idea…" Honestly, the words escaping my mouth were beginning to scare me by that point. They were too random to be me!

"Maybe we should-"

"Maybe we should _not!" _

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Kyoya's collected demeanor finally began to slip.

"Anything you say is automatically not good!"

At this point Kyoya stopped responding to me, perhaps with the realisation that the less he talked to me the less my newfound randomness could manifest itself. I realized later that the drugs had had more of an effect on me than I had first thought possible – I may be mistaken, but demanding chocolate is not usually a normal aspect of my personality, nor is allowing a guy like Kyoya to carry me _anywhere_. I was drugged, don't judge.

Soon we arrived at my front door, where Kyoya gently set me down but didn't release me. I was strangely disappointed when he put me down, but he did keep one arm firmly wrapped around my waist. He rang the doorbell, and a moment later one of the servants answered.

"Rin-sama!" she exclaimed, seeing me slung limply over a strange boy's shoulder.

"Would you kindly take Rin-san inside and tend to her?" Kyoya said smoothly. "She's had a bit of an ordeal."

"Ordeal, my foot," I muttered. "I don't do ordeals. Not a weak little girl, me."

"She's also under the influence of some rather strong painkillers," Kyoya tacked on. "Make sure she gets a warm bath and some rest. She's not to go to school tomorrow, either."

"Of course," the maid replied. "And who shall I say brought her home?"

"Kyoya Otori," the boy beside me replied. "I happened to be at the scene. Rin will explain in more detail when she recovers."

I tried to say something sarcastic, but my tongue wasn't obeying me properly. "Can't recover, 'cause I'm not hurt," I slurred. "I don't get hurt – too mean to get hurt."

"Is she alright?" the maid asked, eyeing me with concern.

"She's fine," Kyoya replied, "but the drugs do seem to be affecting her more than usual. Apparently her system does not react well to that particular medication. Just take her inside and get her to lie down, she'll be back to normal in the morning, if not sooner. Give her some advils and make sure she rests."

"Hai, Otori-sama." The maid took my arm firmly and pulled me inside, away from Kyoya's embrace.

"Arghn," I complained as she did so, but I wasn't conscious enough to voice a more plausible argument.

"Thank you for bringing her home, Otori-sama," the maid said.

"You're welcome," Kyoya replied indifferently. "I will see you in two days, Rin-san, and no sooner. Stay off your feet till then, that's an order."

"Never make it 'n order," I slurred. "That's jus' like begging me to disobey."

"Be sure she rests," he told the maid before walking back to his limo. The door closed firmly after him, and I was surprised by the hollow feeling that suddenly appeared in my stomach at his absence.

"Please come this way, Rin-sama," the maid said, gently pulling me towards my room.

"I can walk!" I growled, yanking away. I managed to keep my feet, and I stalked unsteadily away from her. The giddy happiness brought on by the painkillers seemed to have evaporated along with Kyoya's presence. The dizziness and strange buzz were still there, but suddenly there was nothing funny about anything anymore. The maid wasn't even surprised at my rudeness; she was around me enough to know that this kind of behaviour was normal, and instead of sticking around she disappeared into the kitchen, perhaps to get the advils.

I moved away and began climbing the stairs to my room, growling angrily every time I had to step on my wounded leg. That was the thing with me – any type of pain, whether physical or otherwise, immediately transformed into anger.

I hung on to the rail until I arrived at the top, where I used the wall to support me as I hobbled to my room. I shoved my door open and locked it once I was inside, then turned and tried to unsling my school bag from my shoulder, only to realize that it was no longer there.

"Just what I need," I muttered as I limped to my bed and plopped down, collapsing onto the pillows. I slipped off my shoes, and as I did so I remembered that the doctor had cut the black leather boot on my right leg off at the ankle to better access the wound underneath.

_Darn, I liked these. I guess I need new boots, _I thought as I kicked off the remaining leather and returned to trying to remember where I'd left my school bag.

Could I have dropped it on the way to the dojo? Maybe I left it there? Or could it be in Kyoya's limo? The drugs must still have been swirling around in my system, because I couldn't seem to remember properly.

A knock on the door distracted me for a moment, and a flare of irritation surged through me at the interruption.

"What!" I snapped.

"I have water and medication for you. Also, would you like your dinner, Rin-sama?" the same maid who had got the door spoke.

"No," I growled. "I want to be left alone. Tell the staff that they're not to disturb me. And let Kaito and Ami know."

"Yes Rin-sama," the maid responded.

I let her in after hopping to the door unhappily, and she handed me a glass of cold water and two pills. I swallowed them quickly, and she took the glass back and exited the room. Her footsteps padded down the hallway, and briefly I felt bad for snapping at her. Then the feeling vanished, and I succumbed to the familiar feeling of being angry for no reason.

I glared at the empty room and turned on my side. I brought a hand to my stomach and rubbed the center, feeling the spot where the anger was coalescing. I didn't want to feel angry, I reflected as I rolled onto my stomach and closed my eyes. I didn't like it, but my emotions weren't listening to me. The ones I failed to suppress never listened to me.

I was pulled away from my musings as a phone rang, the loud buzz making me jolt up in surprise.

"Now whose phone could that be?" I inquired of the empty room, before realizing that it was probably mine. Of course, stupid. I hopped off the bed, yelping as half my weight landed on my injured leg, and hobbled over to my dresser. I yanked open the door and grabbed the phone lying underneath a pile of black clothes.

"Suo Tamaki?" I read the name on the screen out loud. "Now how did he get my number?"

I considered answering it, but settled for tossing the object onto my bed and sitting down beside it. I stared at the cell phone till it stopped vibrating, the irritating ring fading into nothing. I waited for a moment, some obscure part of me hoping that he would call back, but the devise lay soundless on my quilt.

I curled up on my side and lay there, strangely empty. I didn't feel angry anymore. I felt almost… lonely? No, there's no way that was it. Still, the fact remained that I couldn't identity the strange feeling running through my being. I didn't like not knowing what I felt, so I tried to shut down and sleep so I wouldn't have to feel anything.

"Emotions aren't worth it," I muttered out loud. "They're stupid, unnecessary things."

Those were the last words I spoke before I fell asleep for the second time that evening.

I woke up a few hours later and glanced at the clock. Midnight. I considered going back to sleep, but then decided that I should at least change into my pajamas. I got off the bed and grabbed my PJs before heading to the bathroom across the hallway from my bedroom. I washed my face and changed my clothes, and then headed back and slipped under the covers.

_I wonder what Kyoya's doing right now, _I thought randomly before relaxing into my mattress. I flipped my bedside light off and shut my eyes, but after thinking of Kyoya, my brain was too busy to sleep. _Ugh, stupid Cool Type, _I thought unhappily. _I don't do romance, so you can get out of my head. _

Eventually I got to sleep, and my dreams, if I had any, were peaceful and Kyoya-free.

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><p><strong>Rin=ice queen<strong>

**Kyoya=shadow king**

**Fluff=hard**

**Yes? This chapter was a real jerk. Honestly, Rin and Kyoya are two of the most unromantic characters I've ever tried to write, besides Ulquiorra. Writing fluff for them is near impossible to do whilst keeping them in character. But, here it is, I hope you like it. **

**There's going to be a drastic return to angst in the next two or so chapters. So far Rin has been mellowing out a bit too quickly, as one of my reviewers pointed out, and I completely agree. So, I'm upping the angst. Because you all needed to know that in advance :P  
><strong>

**Reviews make my fingers move! It's seriously true; whenever I get writer's block I go back and re-read old reviews, they help. And the more you send me the faster I write. **

**Once again, thank you to all the people who have already reviewed or if you've just favourite/alerted. You're amazing, I love you all! In a completely non-creepish way. **

**See you next time!**

**-Rose202  
><strong>


	10. Always Alright?

**Hello y'awls! I want to thank last chapter's reviewers from the bottom of my heart:**

**Ravenclaw Alchemist**

**Quinhwyvar**

**loved2readandwrite**

**bored411**

**a. b. sparkle  
><strong>

**Your support is, as always, an inspiration to me. I love you all, thanks for the feedback :) And special thanks to Quin, who has officially agreed to read through all my chapters and has made this one much better with her well-placed criticism and critiquing. You are awesome, thank you!**

* * *

><p><em>Eventually I got to sleep, and my dreams, if I had any, were peaceful and Kyoya-free.<em>

I woke the next morning to the irritating buzz of my cell phone, which was going off for the second time in the past twelve hours. I groaned and glanced at my clock, and then threw the blankets over my head, ignoring the noise. Eventually the ringing ceased as the person hung up, only to start again a moment later as they redialed.

"Arg!" I yelled as I flung the blankets off and grabbed the phone; I didn't even bother checking the call display before I opened it and roared, "WHAT IN FUDGE DO YOU WANT? IT'S ONLY SIX-FREAKING-THIRTY!"

Shocked silence responded, before a timid voice said, "Uh… good morning to you too, Rin-san."

"Who are you?"

"It's me, Rin-san. Haruhi."

"Haruhi?" I repeated, momentarily distracted out of my sleepy anger. "How'd you get my number?"

"I asked Kyoya-sempai for it," she responded.

"How'd _he_ get it?"

"I don't know. He knows lots of things he shouldn't. He asked me to call you and make sure you were alright."

"Ah… I see."

There was an awkward pause during which I nearly fell back asleep.

"Soo…" the natural type said, drawing the word out. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I said, more sharply than I'd intended. "There was no need to call, I'm okay."

"Are you?" Haruhi asked, worried, and I balked at her tone.

"Of course. What would make you think otherwise?"

"Ah, nothing," she replied. I could just _hear _the worry in her voice. "Just… you don't sound alright."

"Well I am," I growled. Then, in a slightly softer tone, "I'm always alright, Haruhi." _Always. _

"Right, I'm sure you are," Haruhi said in a kind voice that suggested that she did not quite believe me, but at the same time invited no argument.

_It's too early in the morning for this. _

"Are you coming to school?" Haruhi inquired.

"Did Kyoya tell you to ask that?" I shot back. Haruhi hesitated for a split second, just long enough for me to know that I was right.

"Well… Maybe, but that's not the point."

"I suppose not… alright then; no, I'm not going to school."

"I'll tell the host club not to expect you."

"Okay. Um… thanks, I guess. For checking on me." Only after the words were past my lips did I realise how… _normal_ they sounded. Like something one friend might say to another, instead of what I would normally say to a classmate.

"You're welcome, Rin-san," Haruhi said brightly. "I'll see you soon, I hope you feel better."

"Yeah," I responded. "See you." I flipped the small device shut and plopped it onto my pillow as I lay back. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment, watching the tiny shafts of dawn light filtering through my window and hitting the gold walls, turning them into a beautiful metallic color.

For some reason, the short conversation with Haruhi had felt totally bizarre. Bizarre, but not unpleasant.

I sighed contentedly, and a totally uncharacteristic contentedness spread through me. I'm not sure why I wasn't irritated; usually I was a grouch in the mornings. But that day, as my eyes bored into the top of my room, I had to admit to myself that I was actually happy. Maybe because Haruhi had called. Maybe because it was Kyoya who had asked her to. I wasn't sure.

_Darn that host club, _I thought, mostly out of habit. I closed my eyes, a soft smile tugging on my lips,and went back to sleep; or at least, I tried. It took me fifteen minutes of lying there with my eyes shut to realise that I wouldn't be getting any more sleep that morning.

I groaned and sat up, cursing Haruhi for the early wake-up call as my hair fell in a messy river around my shoulders. Absently I picked up a strand of red and twirled it between my fingers. The crimson color stood out from the black like a neon sign stands out on a rainy day, and it fell back to its normal straightness when I let go of it.

I got off of the bed and made it out of habit, carefully pulling the grey covers until they hung neatly. Satisfied, I then sauntered over to my closet and looked inside.

"No leather today," I said aloud, glancing at the beams of sunshine filtering through the blinds. "It's not a leather-type day." Surprisingly, finding an outfit that was not entirely comprised of leather was fairly easy; five minutes later I ended up with a pair of navy blue skinny jeans, a black, long-sleeved shirt and a long, button-down black jacket that hung down to just above my knees and tied at the front. To match the style I had found a pair of knee-high boots which were _not _made of the ordinary leather material; they were black suede, which despite its smoothness was surprisingly strong. The entire outfit was still extremely dark in color; the only exception to black were the navy-blue jeans, most of which were covered by the long coat and high boots. I didn't put the clothes on yet, instead I brought them to the bathroom with me as I walked over to check my leg.

Inside the bathroom, I plopped the pile of clothes on the counter and placed the boots side-by-side on the floor before sitting down on the counter and rolling my pajama pant leg up till my calf was bare. I winced as I observed the cut.

The actual wound was covered in white gauze, running up my leg in a two-inch strip and taped to the skin. It was the flesh around the slice that worried me; it was red and puffy, with tiny swollen veins running through it. I touched it experimentally and yelped at the contact.

_Ow. _

I undid the tape carefully, peeling the sticky substance away from my sore leg painfully. The knife wound was red and angry-looking, and a tiny trickle of blood dripped from the deepest edge. I ransacked the cupboard and managed to come up with some antiseptic and bandages, with which I treated it. Ten minutes later I was dressed, my leg complaining loudly as I zipped up the close-fitting boot. I stopped as it twinged, and then decided that I would forget the boots for a day. It wasn't like I was going out or anything.

Back in my room, I raided my closet till I happened upon a pair of hardly used flats. The shoes were my size, but they felt tiny without the usual extra material covering the lower third of my legs. I slipped them on and frowned at the light sensation that came with the absence of leather covering the bottom half of my leg. I shrugged it off and limped downstairs in search of breakfast, hungry from missing supper the night before.

"Rin-sama," a maid said when I entered the kitchen. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Yes," I replied, eyeing the half-finished scrambled eggs in the pan on the stove.

"I'll bring it to the dining room," the maid told me, and I nodded before wincing my way out of the kitchen and to the dining room table, where I collapsed on one of the satin-covered seats. I stretched my sore leg out and tucked the other securely underneath it.

A few minutes later, the maid brought out a tray full of steaming eggs, some bacon, and of course my favourite breakfast food, waffles with strawberries. My stomach growled loudly at the sight.

"Thanks," I muttered as she set it down in front of me, prompting a surprised glance. I pretended not to see, and she scurried back to the kitchen to do whatever maids do. Honestly, was I really normally that angry, that I didn't make a regular habit of saying thank you? I brushed off my brief feeling of guilt and dug into my breakfast with indecent gusto.

Five minutes later, I got up from the table and wandered into the living room, already finished eating. What can I say, I was a fast eater – most food only lasted a few minutes once placed on my plate. Dimly I heard the shuffling of dishes as the maid returned to the dining room and collected the breakfast dishes.

I'm not going to go into too much detail about my imprisonment – I mean, recovery time – at home, but suffice to say that by the end of it I missed Ouran. I lazed around, thought about doing homework, hung around and unnerved the staff, and pretty much just waited for my leg to heal so I could get out of the house again.

Tamaki called the next day, wondering how I was doing and if I was coming to school. Basically it was the same conversation I'd had earlier with Haruhi, with the addition of Tamaki's craziness. I hated to admit it, but I was glad he'd called. _I don't know what's wrong with me. _

With the use of only one leg, I went metaphorically insane from not being able to run or practice martial arts, or to do anything physical. I was used to a rigorous routine – go to school, come home, practice karate, go for a run, practice judo, maybe run again, shower and do my homework. Needless to say, to suddenly be practically invalid was very… _taxing, _I suppose you could say.

Finally, after wearing down my own and the servant's nerves almost to the breaking point with my continued brooding presence, I was able to return to school. Kyoya texted me in the evening of the second day and told me that I should probably use a crutch for the first bit of being back at school, but as usual I completely ignored him. I was irritated enough with having to take time off; there was _no _way I was going out in public with a crutch. Nothing ruined a bad-girl reputation like showing an obvious weakness. I texted him back asking him to check his limo for my book bag, but thankfully I had another one I could use in the meantime. I was just thankful that my laptop hadn't been in my bag when I'd lost it.

So, three days after the incident in the alley, I showed up in my black limo at the gates of Ouran Academy, sporting a still-healing slice across my cheekbone, a very sore leg, multiple bruises and _no _crutches, thank you very much.

I was quite proud of myself when I made it all the way inside and up the red carpeted staircase without so much as flinching. I did my best not to limp, but with pain spiking through my leg at every step, it was difficult. I had patches of discoloration all over my arms, as well as on my ribs, but the most noticeable mark was the cut on my face. It was the most obvious thing in the world that I'd been in a fight. I attracted the usual stares plus some as I walked inside my classroom, and as usual I didn't mind them and sat down at the back, propping my feet up on the desk.

I was back in my normal black outfit, complete with heeled leather boots and a studded belt, but I'd done something new with my hair. Instead of wearing it all down and straight, I had left just the black parts of my hair down and pulled the red chunks back into a bun on the back of my head, so that the two colors were separated. I fiddled with the red bun as the classroom filled up and the bell rang.

Tamaki and Kyoya walked in together a few minutes before the bell, and Tamaki cast me a quick smile as he passed. Kyoya nodded to me coolly, already scribbling something down in his notebook, and I gave a small jerk of my head to acknowledge him. Neither of us smiled, but for some reason I felt happier the moment he stepped into the room. It didn't escape my notice, either, that the Cool Type did not acknowledge anyone else in the room.

"You know, just because you're pretending to be nice doesn't mean they like you," a nasally and slightly familiar voice sneered from behind me. I swivelled in my seat to see Emi, the blonde girl from the host club the week before, and her two cohorts – what were their names? Ayano? Ayaka? Something like that. The three stood close together, with Emi in the center, and old habit forced me to my feet at their aggressive postures. I growled wordlessly and forced Emi back by stepping forward.

_I'm __**really **__not in the mood for this._

The blonde was tall – only an inch or so shorter than me – but that inch was enough to intimidate her, and I knew it. Rule one of confrontations: never show that you are anything but confident. The two brunettes cast nervous glances at their leader as I got in their faces, clearly wondering if provoking me had been the best idea.

I stopped when my bottomless black eyes were level with Emi's cold emerald.

Honestly, compared to the weapon-wielding criminals in the dojo, little girls weren't very scary.

"Don't," I said simply, adopting a low, feral tone. I could probably make them leave without using the tall-dark-and-scary approach, but I didn't. "You're better off not messing with me. So don't."

My gaze locked with Emi's, before sliding over her to meet briefly with each of the other girls. Their eyes were appraising my appearance, running over the few bruises my jacket left visible and the cut on my face. The disgust I saw in their eyes hurt, even though that kind of emotion was _exactly _what I'd spent sixteen years training myself to disregard.

_Darn it, those hosts are making me soft._

"Your charade doesn't scare us," one of the brunettes stated.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you come out from behind Emi then?" I inquired. It was true; the girl was practically hiding behind the taller, more confident blonde, who was herself making sure to stay a 'safe' distance away.

Said blonde interrupted, apparently unpleased that I was speaking directly to one of her subordinates. "None of us are intimidated by you." _Lie. _"You don't scare us." _Lie. _"No one likes you." _Truth. "_We just wanted to let you know that just because your father is an important businessman, that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Our families have some ties as well; you're not in ordinary school anymore."

That got my attention. "Do whatever I want? Emi-san, all I ever wanted was to be left alone."

"Liar!" she snarled. I was seriously considering clouting her at that point. "You want to steal the boys of the host club. But trust me, Rin-manko, they don't like you. You are simply an anomaly, and like all anomalies, once the newness has worn off you'll disappear back into obscurity."

My eyes narrowed infinitesimally at the crude cuss word she paired with my name. I understood the bit about fading into obscurity – in all truthfulness, it would be better than dislike – but I didn't like name-calling.

"Obscurity was all I ever asked for," I growled softly. _I think this conversation is past the point of considering violence, _I decided. I was just about to strike her – a close-handed blow that probably would have broken her jaw – when sensei entered the room. Normally, that would not have stopped me, or even caused me to hesitate; but things had been very weird recently. And by recently, I mean since visiting the host club.

I abandoned the violent course of action and settled for sending the three bit– I mean _students _– cold glares, making sure that they knew it was only the teacher's entrance that had saved them from something _very _unpleasant. My fist uncurled and relaxed as I turned and stalked away from them, hiding the tremors that wanted to run through my form. I didn't look back; I just glided to my seat, making sure to position my chair so that my back was not to them. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the three blots of yellow move away before they exited the classroom.

I looked away and began cussing myself out internally. What was my _problem? _Why didn't I just hit her? Why was I having trouble acting like the usual me?

_If you were really badass and mean, you wouldn't have trouble acting like it._

I squashed that thought the moment it formed. I didn't even want to _think _about the implications.

"Hey," a voice said from beside. I forced myself _not _to be happy that he was talking to me, _not _to let my mouth tilt upwards in the smile that wanted to surface.

"What do you want?" I snapped. Then I winced. Tamaki looked taken aback for a moment, but his smile wasn't long in returning.

"Are you alright?" He inquired, seeming honestly worried. A cold stare was the only response he got. Apparently used to my behavior by now, Tamaki didn't wait too long for a response and asked another question. "Are you planning on visiting the club again today?" He sounded hopeful, and I hated the flare of happiness that rocketed through me at the prospect of going.

That flare of happiness, that brief feeling of gladness, frightened me more than I would ever admit. Before I could think about it I was snapping, "No, I'm _not _coming back! Ever! I told you I don't do host clubs, so that means I don't!" I halted abruptly, a strange tightness in my throat choking me. "I never asked you to do this, I never asked you to be my friend. I just… no, I'm not coming back. Stop talking to me." By the end my usually sure and even tone was wavering, and there seemed to be something stuck in my throat.

I pushed my chair back and practically fled the room, not caring that the final bell rang just as I was passing through the doorway or that Kyoya's grey eyes were following me with something akin to worry.

_I never asked for this._

I stormed down the near-deserted hallway, sending the straggling students racing to their classrooms when they saw me coming. I passed a few teachers, but even they did not attempt to stop me – the glint in my eye was enough to ensure their silence.

_I never asked for my safe world to be disrupted._

I was going at a good clip when I rounded a corner and ran straight into someone's chest. I let out a quiet _oof _of surprise, but that was all the reaction I made. I was about to yell at them, or maybe just curse and walk off, before I realised who it was.

"Mori-sempai?" I said, rubbing my forehead from where it had collided with his collarbone. Mori looked down at me and nodded. I sighed and looked away as I stepped back. Why did I have to run into another member of the host club?

"What's wrong?" It took me a moment to realise that it was Mori who had spoken.

_My walls are cracking and I can't stop it. _

"Um…. What?" _Oh, real intelligent, Rin. _"Wrong? Nothing's wrong, why would something be wrong? There's nothing wrong."

Mori just stared at me expectantly, obviously not fooled by my inadequate explanation, and I sighed. I hate observant people. "It's fine, really." _Stop staring at me. _

I stepped around him and was about to continue walking when Honey rounded the corner as well, obviously having heard our short conversation.

I stopped again and growled. "What is up with you guys? Is it physically impossible to get some space here?" I didn't wait for a reply as I pushed past the smaller student and continued my trek down the hall.

"Rin-chan?" I heard Honey mutter in a hurt and confused tone before I took a sharp turn and was hidden.

I rounded the corner and then burst into a sprint, desperate to escape the sensations flittering around in my chest. I didn't want to feel like that… I didn't want to feel at all. _I never asked to be able to feel! My family hurt me so deeply, I shut down my emotions and refused to ever love anyone. But these people… they make it so difficult! _I pushed those thoughts aside and just ran, ran from the emotions, the unruly thoughts that always came with the host club.

Soon I exited the school; I didn't even look where I was running, I just ran.

I realised later that I headed into the gardens, but at the time all I knew was that when I stopped, I was surrounded by green. Bushes, grass, flowers and even a few trees, none of which I recognized. I didn't care. I could have been off school property, or at the town park, or anywhere really, for how aware I'd been of where I was going. Vaguely I recalled passing a white peeing statue and came to the conclusion that I must still be inside Ouran's extensive grounds, not that that helped much.

I sniffed and sat down hard, collapsing onto the rough green carpet. I hugged my knees to my chest and just sat there, steadily forcing my emotions back into their little box. How the little box had gotten open I wasn't positive, but it sure wasn't going to happen again.

Slowly but surely the feelings started to recede, allowing me to crush them into a little ball and hide the ball in a tiny dark corner.

My time at Ouran had made me soft. That was the single realization that I came to. The host club, Tamaki and Kyoya in particular, were not good for me. A dry, shuddering noise that might have been a sob escaped my lips, before I once again locked down on all emotions and reactions and forced myself to remain composed. I was becoming soft, and I _hated _it.

"I will _not _be weak!" I snarled under my breath. I repeated that phrase once, twice, then again. _I will not be weak. I cannot afford to be weak. Vulnerability is not an option. _I repeated the single life lesson that my parents unintentionally had taught me, that I had taught myself. The strong survive, the weak do not. I lowered my head as a single spike of pain shot through my chest, but I pushed it away with great effort.

How long I sat there, I do not know. I focused all my discipline, all my training, all my years of practice on crushing every single hint of feeling inside me.

When I felt like something resembling my old self, I stood up. All emotion disappeared off my face – _the way it should be – _and my body moulded by habit back into its usual tense, combat-ready position. I growled slightly. _My name is Rin Amaya, you bastards, and I _do not _show emotion. _

I shook off the remainings of feelings and ignored the brief picture of black hair and glasses that flashed in front of my eyes.

"Time to go," I muttered aloud. "Enough moping, Rin. These people have claws under their fancy clothes; if you keep going like this they'll get the wrong idea."

A streak of crimson hair escaped the bun on the back of my head and fell rebelliously into my eyes. I smirked at the little streak, the bright red a poignant and much-needed reminder of who I was – and who I was supposed to be. I reached back and yanked the rest of the red-dyed hair down, combing out the bobby pins. When the ruby locks hung evenly with the midnight black, I turned back the way I'd come and started walking. The elbow-length hair swished comfortingly around my shoulders, reminiscent of many other, less peaceful times, and I smirked again; I could practically _feel _my past catching up with me, consuming me. The past three weeks had all gone by without me getting in a fight at a bar _once_, and that was an uncomfortable stat that would soon have to change. I had altered since starting at Ouran. Now, I would alter again; I would return to the cold, quick-fisted rebel that was the real me.

I smiled – or leered, more like – as I attempted to make my way back to the school.

Now, lots of people would assume that with my recent record, I got lost again. And they would be right.

"I hate this garden," I muttered twenty minutes later. "It's too frickin' _big_."

"That's interesting, because I quite like this place," an achingly familiar tone said from behind me. I froze, a powerful surge of emotion attempting to sweep through me. I closed my eyes and forced it back into the box.

"Hello, Kyoya-san. What are you doing out here?" my tone was clipped and cool, and void of any and all expression.

"Searching for you," he replied just as coolly. I blanched and the emotion box rattled, before he added, "Tamaki asked me to see if you were alright." The box promptly snapped shut.

_Huh, _I thought cynically. _Figures Tamaki made him. _

"Well, you can tell Tamaki that he does not need to check up on me," I growled. "I am perfectly fine. Now if you wouldn't mind, which way it the school?"

Kyoya pointed a slender, pale finger. "That way."

I nodded and stalked past, intentionally bumping shoulders with him on the way by. I didn't stop, look back or thank him.

A few paces later, I realised that he was following. I stopped. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you get back," he responded smoothly, but I could see the light of what looked like concern glittering in his eyes – or, glasses. I snorted and ignored it.

"I am fine. Go away." I continued stalking away, and was seriously frustrated when, fifteen feet later, I turned around again to see that Kyoya had caught up and was walking a few paces behind me.

"What part of 'go away' do you not understand?"

"The part that involves leaving you by yourself in this state."

I paused. "_This state?" _What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Kyoya shrugged slightly. "You seem different. It is my duty as a Host to ensure that you are alright."

"We're not at the host club anymore," I stated the obvious. "And whether I am alright or not is none of your concern."

"I am afraid I cannot quite agree," Kyoya asserted. "After all, as Tamaki says, 'the happiness and well-being of all host club guests is _always _a hosts' concern'."

"Does everything come back to Tamaki with you?" I snapped rhetorically. "If you weren't such a clever bastard I'd say you didn't have a mind of your own."

Kyoya stopped walking, and I continued past him, uncaring. Soon I rounded a corner in the maze of bushes, losing the cool type somewhere behind me.

I did my best to not dwell on the brief, near imperceptible flicker of hurt that had crossed Kyoya's features as I walked away from him.

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><p><strong>And Rin officially shuts down. The next few chappies are gonna be an emotional roller-coaster, hope you guys are ready :) <strong>

**Now, I would like to say something about reviews, just briefly. Did you guys know that I have thirty-five alerts to this story, but only four regular reviewers? That means that thirty-one of you aren't reviewing. And to you, I have one thing to say – if you like my story, then please support it. And by that, I mean reviewing, not just favouriting and reading. Thanks!**

**And, once again, a humungeous, gianourmous thank-you to everyone who has reviewed already, you guys are my favourite people in the whole world. Seriously. Without you this chapter would not have been published; your feedback effectively smashed my writer's block into a million pieces. So THANK YOU!**

**I have a question for you guys, just as a point of interest to me; how many of you read this story's sequel 'Why Does It Hurt' before I removed it? I want to know because I'm considering changing the ending I have planned, but I need to know if any of you remember what happens in the sequel before I can make any plans. So if you could let me know that would be fantastic :)  
><strong>

**Love you guys, and see you next time! **

**-Rose**


	11. Confrontations and a Vacation?

**Hey there all! Been a while, hasn't it? I do apologize for the delay, I've been working my first full-time job as well as working on moving out, so life's been a little crazy lately. **

**A thousand thank-yous to last chapter's reviewers, **

**ivyfedora,**

**BadWolf16,**

**ElekrtikNightmare,**

**Anime-GuardianAngel,**

**DaAggeAgneta**

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**Startime101,**

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**Bored411,**

**Reviewer 9000, **

**and Derp.**

**You guys are all incredible, thank you ever so much for the reviews, they made me smile! Well, more like grin maniacally... but the point still stands :P **

**Also a huge thank you to my awesome beta Quin, who read through this chapter and thrashed out the kinks. You're amazing :)**

**This chapter's more of an in-between chappy, just setting the stage for the next while. Things haven't been going in quite the direction I'd intended... but the new direction's interesting enough, I think. Anyways, I'll let you be the judges of that, so on with the chapter! **

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><p>I went home immediately after my conversation with Kyoya in the garden.<p>

When I arrived at my parent's house I immediately disappeared to my room, not giving Ami and Kaito time to waylay me. I tried not to think of the Host Club in full swing back at the school, most likely having fun with the Edo-era cosplay they'd been planning. I sighed and grabbed my phone, shut off the black device off and then tucked it in the farthest corner of my dresser's bottom drawer.

I then flopped back and stared at the ceiling. I'd been doing that a lot recently – I should really stop before it became a habit. Thinking along those lines, I rolled over again and laid on my stomach, listening to time pass. You can do that, you know. If you wait quietly enough you'll start to hear time actually passing….. or maybe that's just my old fashioned clock ticking, it's hard to tell.

As I lay on my bed, thinking and listening to time, I realized something: I actually had very little to do while I was home. Usually I was either out running, at school, at the dojo, in a fight with someone, or sleeping. Seeing as I wasn't at school, I didn't feel like running, and there was no one around to fight, I had nothing to do.

"I'm bored," I stated out loud, glaring at the walls as if expecting them to find the solution to my problem. They did not.

I groaned and sat up again, then stood and crossed to my desk and laptop. I ran a hand over the smooth black surface before sliding into the chair and flipping the lid open. I twirled my hair between my fingers as it booted up, kicking a foot impatiently. Once the little blue light gave the go-ahead I typed in my password, then opened a Word document, then opened a specific file labeled 'Ramblings'.

_Today I visited the Host Club. These boys are very... friendly. I know it's part of their jobs to be kind and open without judging, but it's nice to pretend for a while that someone doesn't hate me. God, I can't believe myself. I sound like some stupid school girl squealing over her first crush. I know I should probably not get any closer to this club, but it's hard not to. _

I growled as I re-read the entry. If I'd known it then, then why hadn't I cut ties with the hosts sooner? I sighed at my own stupidity and read down more.

_Tamaki is such a gentleman, it's going to be hard acting like myself around him. The others to, Kyoya and Haruhi specifically. It's also going to be difficult to cut my ties with them when this gets out of hand. I'm already in over my head. God, I'm stupid. _

"Yes," I agreed aloud, "Yes you are, Rin." I read the next entry.

_I don't know if I like Kyoya or hate him. He's so indifferent – but then again, so am I. He's uncaring, calculating and cold; he's like an emotional glacier. I feel like there's so much more about him that he's not telling us, but I can't get anything out of him. I asked today about his family and stuff, and he gave me some basic information and then changed the subject. One second he's giving me his fake 'host' smile, and the next he's playing the evil mastermind. Urg, I'm so confused! _

I stared at the last sentence and reread it several times. I agreed with that previous statement as well – I _was _confused. Really, really confused.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a knock on the door. "Rin-sama?" I debated pretending I was asleep, but then decided against it.

"Hn?" I muttered in the form of a reply.

"Kaito-sama and Ami-sama wish to see you downstairs," the maid replied.

I blinked. Well, that was unusual. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Hai, Rin-sama."

Footsteps padded away quietly, and I saved the file and exited it, then shut down the computer. Two minutes later I limped down the stairs and into the drawing room. Ami and Kaito were already seated on the black leather couch, but what immediately caught my attention was the serious expressions on their faces.

_Uh-oh. _

"Whadda ya want?" I demanded roughly, ignoring the apprehension. Ami's eyes narrowed at my words, but Kaito didn't even seem to notice.

"Sit down."

I debated blatantly disobeying the order, but really, what was the point? I circled the two of them carefully, like a hyena staying just out of range of a lion's claws, and sat down in the armchair in front of them. "What do you _want_?" I repeated impatiently.

"Mind your tongue," Kaito hissed.

Anger flared to life within me. "I will not. You have done nothing to earn my respect – I have no reason to do anything you tell me. Least of all mind my tongue, _father_."

I snarled the last word, the rage that I'd been suppressing for the better part of ten years bubbling to the surface.

Kaito glared at me, his blue eyes flinty and dangerous, but I refused to back down. However, when he spoke again he didn't address what I'd said – he simply switched topics as if I hadn't just insulted him, as if I wasn't even there. It was like he was speaking to the air.

"I am leaving in four hours for a conference in Germany, and you are coming with me."

I blanched. "Say what?"

"You," Kaito repeated, "are coming with me to Germany for three days."

"Um, no I am not."

"Rin," Ami spoke for the first time, "There's no point arguing, the decision has already been made."

"No one makes my decisions for me," I growled. "I'm not going, no way am I gonna be stuck in a hotel with _him _for three –"

"_Silence!_" Kaito snapped. I was so surprised at the venom in his tone that I obeyed. I eyed him carefully as he stared at me, no doubt imagining all the ways he could cause me harm. "Now _you, _you arrogant, selfish, immature brat," he snarled, "are coming with me on this trip. It's not up for discussion!"

"Kaito," Ami breathed calmingly, sliding her slender hand on top of his clenched fist. He took a deep breath and relaxed slightly, but his eyes stayed angry.

"Why now?" I asked quietly, forgetting to be rude.

Kaito just glared at me, so Ami replied, carefully avoiding my gaze. "You're getting older now, Rin, and soon you'll have to take a more important role in running the company. This conference is an important gathering of many of the prominent people in the business world – you are going because we've decided it's time to introduce you to the public spotlight."

I gaped for a moment. "_The public spotlight? _Are you freaking insane?"

Ami did not appreciate my questioning her mental stability, apparently. "You have been more than difficult," she snapped at me, "and you have given us no end of trouble." I smirked at that. _Yep, and I intend to give you more. _"However, you aren't a child anymore. This conference might be good for all of us – and you _will _cooperate."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh _will _I now?"

"Yes," Ami responded with a smirk, "Because if you don't, we'll take you out of Ouran."

Oh, no. Oh _hell _no.

A low, wordless, feralgrowl rumbled past my lips. I knew Ouran was a bad idea. It was a bad idea, because, unconsciously or not, I had started to like it – and my parents knew it. It was a bad idea, because it gave them leverage.

Now, they had something to threaten me with.

"Do you think I care about that?" I growled, bluffing. "I couldn't care less about anything you do."

"That's not what the Otori boy made it sound like when he called here."

I paused. _Aw shizzlers. Darn you Otori! You had to call! _"Kyoya phoned?"

"Yes," Ami said, "and from what he said it sounds like you would indeed care if we canceled your enrollment."

I glared at them.

"So it is settled," Kaito said with finality. "I've asked one of the maids to start packing for you. We leave for the airport in four hours."

I stayed seated as Kaito and Ami stood and left. My mind was spinning in circles, trying to find a loophole, but I had to accept that I was backed into a corner – at least temporarily, until I found a way out. Of course, I could always just leave the house for the next day or so, but if I did that then Ami would most likely force me onto the next flight to Germany when I got back.

"Gah!" I exclaimed, and punched a couch pillow. My mind still spinning with possible escape options, I stood and stalked to my room.

I'm fairly sure I frightened the maid when I slammed the door to my room open. "What are you doing?" I snapped at her, indicating the white and silver dress she was tucking into my suitcase.

"P-packing for your trip, Miss," she replied nervously. I raised an eyebrow.

"Packing _that?" _the dress in her hands was pretty enough, I supposed, but there was no way I'd ever be caught dead in it.

"Yes," the maid replied, "for the dance."

I froze. "D-dance?" Yes, I, Rin Amaya, just stuttered.

"Yes, there is a ball dance on the second day of the convention. Your father made it clear that you would be attending."

A deadly chill settled over the room. Okay, _that was it. _

"Excuse me," I said sweetly, "I will go rectify that with Kaito immediately." I saw the maid shiver at the sickly surgery tone I employed.

I didn't spin on my heel and stomp out, nor did I take the time to formulate a plan of attack; I just whirled and bolted out of the room in a gait somewhere between a lope and a sprint. I jumped down the stairs, taking them four at a time and using gravity to help me move faster. In a mere eight seconds after the maid had spoken the dreaded "D" word, I slammed Kaito's office door open.

"I. Do. Not. Dance." No more sugar-coating for me; the words were as rage-filled and icy as I was capable of making them. "I do not wear dresses. I do not attend balls. And I am _not _your political plaything. I'm giving in easily and letting you win this, I hope you realise that. But there is no way in you-know-where that I dance."

Kaito's eyes stayed firmly fixed on the document he was reading, sipping his tea leisurely. Then his chilly blue orbs flickered up to me disdainfully with something akin to pity, as if observing a blemish or an imperfection on an otherwise flawless work of art.

_Yeah, that's right old man. I'm the single flaw in your perfect life, I get it. _

"The dance is the central event of the convention," he said slowly, remaining calm even though I was obviously seething and mere seconds away from snatching his tea-cup and smashing it. "You _will _be going, for the same reason that you are coming with me in the first place."

My eyes narrowed. "If you are going to use taking me out of Ouran as an excuse to try and manipulate me on a regular basis, then I will send in my withdrawal forms myself." It was a bluff and I knew it. Question was whether he would fall for it or not.

A single dark eyebrow, so much like my own, rose on Kaito's face. "Somehow I doubt that. The Otori boy said some rather interesting things to me about you and that club."

The words boiling up in my throat stuttered to a sudden stop. "And what exactly, pray tell, did he tell you?"

Kaito smirked without answering my question, and unexpectedly I had an unpleasant feeling in my stomach. "Apparently he couldn't reach you on your mobile, so he tried the home line. From what I gathered it looks like the little ice-witch has found something to care about." The sickeningly satisfied look on his face made it clear what he'd be doing with that information.

Mentally I began beating myself up for turning my cell off.

"And this is relevant, why?"

"Because, Rin, Kyoya-san mentioned some rather interesting facts to me about that host club that you've been so interested in recently."

I took the words and rolled with them, saying the first thing that came to my mind, completely forgetting about my self-imposed rule of staying away from the host boys. "Well then, you'll know that I'm going to the beach with the hosts for two days tomorrow and can't go to Germany with you, right?"

We both blanched. Honestly, I have no idea where that came from. I mean sure, Kyoya had invited me to the beach the day after I'd gotten back to school, but I'd never even considered taking him up on it. Even more so now – with my return to my normal self, going anywhere with those boys was out of the question. Still, I found myself using the excuse. After all, better them than _Kaito. _

"That wasn't precisely what I was referring to, but –"

"No buts," I snapped. I was out on a ledge and I knew it; I'd never been this forward with Kaito before. "I have plans –" _yeah, plans I didn't make till five seconds ago _"– and I am not changing them for you."

We stared each other down for a moment, unwilling to back down. I knew if he called my bluff about not caring about Ouran he might be able to force me into going, but then again, he might not. Of course if what he said was true then he already thought I cared, thanks to Kyoya – question was, would he swallow the lie? Would he risk the conflict and fight me on it? Was the giant mess of introducing me to the public eye worth going head-to-head with me now?

"Fine," he hissed eventually, giving in gracelessly.

Apparently it was not.

"Good to know," I said smoothly, trying to keep the satisfaction out of my voice and failing miserably. "The hosts and a few select guests are leaving for Okinouwa soon, so I will not see you again before you get back." I relaxed my stiff posture and moved back to the door. I paused half-way through and added, sweetly, "Have a good trip!" the words were a jibe and we both knew it.

Upstairs in my room, I once again barged in on the unfortunate maid.

"Change of plans," I told her, diving into the suitcase and forcefully removing the offending dress. "I'm going to the beach."

* * *

><p><strong>Review? Also... next chapter, Rin and a bathing-suit. That's all I'm saying. :P The hosts will be in the next chapter, they were supposed to be in this one but it ended up differently than I'd intended. <strong>

**I dearly hope I haven't lost any of my readers due to the delay... :O are you guys still with me? Please hit that little blue button and let me know, your feedback really does mean the world to me :) I was very happy with last chapter's reviews, I was on a high for weeks :P so thank you, and it would mean so much to me if you took the time to tell me what you thought this time around.  
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**Thank you all so much for everything! See you next time!**

**- Rose**

**UPDATE: So sorry about the multiple notifications, had some technical issues. The site format has changed again, which apparently means it won't accept the document format I use... :( ah well, it's up now and hopefully working properly.  
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